The American Dream
by Lady Nuit
Summary: Tess Holmes had but the American Dream in her mind: earn money, and move her family out of poverty. Her dream was to be Tony Stark, successful, brilliant, and free. Yet she never expected in her drive to become him, she would find a new American Dream, one named Steve Rogers. Through her eyes, the true war begins, the war between her mind and her heart.
1. One Step Into the Right Direction

**_Author's Note:_** _I don't know why I'm doing this to myself, but here I am starting another story when I should be finished the others I have. But I saw Civil War today and I've kept this idea in my head for a while I had to try._

 ** _Chapter 1: One Step In the Right Direction_**

 _December 16, 2010_

As a young woman doodled on her notebook before her commute, her grandfather sat across from her grumbling about something. She didn't take too much time concentrating on it knowing it would lead to a rant. Her grandmother was busy making breakfast for everyone singing her usual songs in Spanish over the crackling radio.

Her lip twitched as she watched her beloved grandmother since her heart out over the radio. Teresa was the woman that had taught Tess everything she knew. She was named after that very woman and she was proud of it. She was a woman that took pride in her home and her and her husband tried hard to get her family what they could. As she began to yell at the boys to keep it down, Tess knew it was normal like every day.

In the madness of her home, there was nothing but noise. If it wasn't loud music it was yelling to keep things clean. There was always a mess in the house, if it wasn't from the junk that her brothers brought from their sport games, it was the junk that her grandfather brought Tess to play with. That was her favorite thing: the so-called junk.

Tess wasn't her usual nineteen year old; she enjoyed tinkering with things and her grandfather always supporter her weird cause. She was never interested in sports (she wasn't that coordinated nor had enough strength), those were the things her two brothers excelled at more than anyone out there. Her oldest brother, James was helping her grandfather at the auto shop they owned. Her middle brother Michael was attempting to get his AA in business, and as for her, she mulled over applications: job applications. Her dream school was MIT and she knew it would never pay for itself. Even with financial aid, she knew it would be impossible. Her dream was to be just like-

"Can you believe a man has so much power?!" …And there it was.

"What do you mean grandpa?" Tess asked.

"This Tony Stark man!" the old man pointed angrily at the Times magazine he held in his hand.

 _Why Tony Stark Will Save the World_

Tess looked brightly at the magazine trying not to look too enthused as she grabbed it from her grandfather. While he began to rant about the so-called rich playboy, she read over his accomplishments. Sans the bad press and sleeping around, Tess hoped to be as wealthy as the man in the magazine. Despite his braggadocios attitude, she admired his brain. As he was moving away from the destructive weapons and more towards renewable energy she grew more and more interested in what he did. Her eyes scanned the page all the more. He was a famous alum of MIT, and someone she wouldn't mind working under.

"Are you listening to me paloma?"

"Yes grandpa, I am" she murmured before putting the magazine down. "You're right, he's not the best influence, but you have to admit, he could do a lot of good out there. Imagine what he could do to the countries that need clean energy? I mean look at Iron Man! It'd be amazing."

"He won't do it, you know why?" the old man asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

Tess shook her head confused, but her grandfather merely smiled and grabbed her chin, to lift her head a bit more.

"Because you will do that. You hear me? You're meant for something bigger than this"

Tess smiled brightly at her grandfather. Money never came easy to the family of five; there was always enough to pay the bills and rent, but never for expenses like college or even a car. Her dream was to get them a house, a good one that they could retire and enjoy their last years. Her grandparents were forced to raise three children after their parents abandoned them, and for that reason, Tess knew she needed to one day make it all worth it, their sacrifices would have happened for a reason.

"Stop that" her grandmother swatted her husband. "You do what you want to do darling, and the rest will fix itself out" as her grandmother kissed her forehead, Tess chuckled. They only wanted the best for her. "So where are you off to today?"

"Oh!" Tess immediately showed them the paper where she had circled items. I'm planning to look into Manhattan today, so I'll be gone for a bit. Hopefully I can get into something good you know?"

"That's good, something to keep you busy"

As she nodded the dining room soon grew smaller as her larger brothers came in and began to eat. Once their food was eaten, Tess found herself waving goodbye and heading out her door.

She managed to look at her reflection once more through the window making sure everything looked in order. Her hair was pulled back in a bun, keeping her wavy hair in place. Her black-rimmed glasses rested perfectly on her nose as her chubby cheeks peeked under. She tried to be as professional as possible, hoping to look more professional than she was. But the truth was that she had very little experience. Other than high school, her life rested on solely her designs for tinkering and whatever she could help her grandparents on.

"Are we done looking at ourselves?" a voice said.

Jumping she turned to see her boyfriend looking amused about scaring her. She laughed before kissing him softly. Benjamin was a perfect boyfriend; that's what she told herself because there was no other words that would describe him. He was on his first year at NYU, studying criminal justice and he was determined to get himself out of Queens. They had been together since they were tweens and they had stuck it out till now. He supported her greatly, but was displeased at her not bothering to apply anywhere for college.

"You ready to head out? The subway won't wait for us"

"Right!"

Both walked side by side, him with a backpack filled with textbooks, and her with a purse that held nothing but copies of her resume and her doodle notebook. As they squished themselves into the train, they knew that they had only this moment to chat before they went on their separate ways. Tess was glad she had him in her life. He was a handsome guy; his eyes were a bright blue, and his hair was a messy jet-black hair that he desperately tried to slick back but failed miserably. He was tall and lanky, but perfectly complimented her shorter and fuller body. She could never call herself skinny; she was medium. She had medium length hair, her body was medium height, and her features as she thought were also medium. Average was all she was. She had brown hair, brown eyes, in a world full of people that shined with uniqueness. She never quite understood why he was still with her when they were better people around, but she would never say it aloud.

"My stop is coming up" he said sighing.

"Okay, be safe, don't fall in love with someone smarter than me okay?" she smiled.

His only response was to squeeze her hip and a kiss to her forehead. As they said their goodbyes, she was once more alone. She needed to get a job today; she couldn't be the only grandchild without anything going for them. She had a plan: save money, apply to MIT, graduate, and somehow in that growing up earn money to make something out of herself. How to get there was a mystery but her path had to be clear at some point right?

As her stop came, she quickly got out and tried to get herself ready before starting the long trek through the tall buildings hoping one would be hiring fresh faces. It was eight in the morning and she was determined to get something good. She knew that something good was coming her way.

 _Eight hour later…_

She wanted to cry. Wasn't the saying that when one door closes another opens? Then were the hell was that open door? She had done six interviews, and in each of those, the door slammed on her. She was told she was too young, too unprepared, or too fresh to even be considered for a position. At this point fast food looked like the best option. Her feet hurt, her resumes were crinkled in her bag and she was hungry.

Wasn't there some luck out there that could come her way?! Waiting to cross the street a limousine did a quick turn, splashing the drainage water on her one clean outfit. She cried out in disgust for not only was she dirty, but her resumes were soaked to the bone. As she closed her eyes and counted to ten so her tears wouldn't rise.

"Look a bit put out there, don't you?" a voice said.

"Well, my resumes are swimming towards the drain, I guess I'd be a bit put out!" Her voice was slowly rising.

She was so pathetic and she knew it, especially since each of those copies cost her ten cents at the library. Bending down she tried to see which ones could survive with a dry under the sun.

" Oh? Looking for a particular job?"

"One that pays?" she muttered annoyed as she made a noise of disgust as a wet rat went into one of the gutters. She was about to give up but as she opened her bag she noticed that her notebook was no longer where she had left it. As she began to frantically dig her hands into the water the voice continued.

"Are those papers really that important?"

"Forget the papers I'm looking for-"

"For this?" the cheap spiral blue notebook popped into her peripheral vision and she was quick to turn.

Never in her life did she think she would see the man in front of her: Tony Stark. The billionaire playboy genius was in the flesh, and holding her notebook. He was handsome in a sort of "I-have-lots-of-money" sort of way. And as she looked at him she knew he was probably wearing Tom Ford and something that cost probably what three months worth of rent was for her family. Meanwhile her outfit consisted of what one cufflink probably cost him. It was embarrassing and mortifying, especially when she didn't even bother to fix herself.

"Let's see here" he began to read the wet resume on top. "nineteen, fresh out of high school, volunteered at animal shelters, worked at an auto shop? Interesting. And what do you expect to get from this?" He threw the paper away. "What's in the notebook that matters to you?"

"It's mine!" she cried out much like a petulant child. As he moved away from her, she didn't quite know if it was because of keeping the notebook away, or the stench that the water had left on her.

"You didn't answer my question" he waggled his finger.

"It's my possibilities book" she said embarrassed. "I write ideas, goals, just…things that keep me sane."

"Huh, cute" he shoved the notebook her way, no longer interested in it. "You know? I like you. You got spunk. Come by Stark Towers tomorrow morning. Oh, and sorry about the whole" he moved his fingers around the mess his limo had made on her.

As he turned to walk away, she stood there gobsmacked. As she hugged her possibilities book against her chest, she replayed what he read in her head.

"W-wait! Mr. Stark!" she called out rushing his direction.

As he turned around with such suaveness she stopped walking and looked anxious.

"Is this a joke? Please tell me it's not, I really need this."

He shrugged.

"We can always use a receptionist or whatever. Just come in tomorrow less….dirty and ask for Pepper Potts, she'll figure out something. She always does."

"You don't even know me! Or my name?"

"I was just going to put 'Sewage-girl' but I guess a name would be better."

"It's Tess" she said excitedly. "Tess Holmes, and I'll be there bright and early Mr. Stark, I promise"

As she looked so brightly at him, Tony stared at her briefly before nodding and walking off. There was her door. This man had opened the door for her dream without even realizing it, and she was not about to mess it up. At this moment, nothing mattered. Not the sewage water that made a squishing noise in her shoe, not the fact that she had no other clothes to wear for tomorrow that were deemed professional. All that mattered that was for a brief second Tony Stark acknowledged her and gave her a job.

She cried out in glee before actually beginning to cry. While the people of Manhattan kept to themselves and their tight schedule, an nineteen year old cried in the streets in excitement of what her life was taking her. It was such a baby step, but it would mean a paycheck that she could give her grandparents.

 _December 17, 2010_

Tess checked herself one more time turning around in the bright yellow dress her grandmother had given her. Her mother had left some clothes that her grandmother didn't dare throw away, and while she would have usually disapproved, Tess was now relieved. Whoever her mother was, she had some style, enough for her to have dresses that she could now wear to work.

Pushing her glasses up, she smiled at herself. Her grandparents were so proud of her for getting a job. Even her brothers had begrudgingly praised her before getting back to video games. This was one step before being the success she knew she was destined to be.

"Mija, you're going to be late!" Her grandmother warned.

"Right!" Tess squeaked before kissing her grandmother's cheek before rushing off to meet Benjamin.

…

"So you have no clue what you're doing?"

In the usual routine, Benjamin and Tess held on to their dear lives on the train as it filled with people. She knew that he had every right to be skeptical, but she didn't want him to ruin this for her. This was her opportunity to maybe have a stable income and one day she could show Mr. Stark and invention she had successfully built. _'Baby steps, Tess'_ she chastised herself.

"No, but Miss Potts will be helping me figure that out" she replied giddy.

"Baby….it could be anything" he said uncomfortable. " You know? He's a playboy and all and well…"

"Don't say that!" she interrupted him, her cheeks flushing. "He promised me something but not _that._ I would _never_ do that"

"Don't I know it" he muttered to himself before earning a swat from her.

His frustration in her fear of intimacy had sprung that unwarranted comment and it was mortifying for her to hear. She knew that she had to eventually…but maybe not so soon? He knew he was frustrated but she would never just do that no matter how long they were together.

"I'm sorry-" he began.

"This is your stop" she replied frustrated herself.

He didn't even bother to kiss her goodbye and she didn't bother to say anything about it. This wasn't a day to mess up, instead she wrapped her winter coat tighter around her as she waited for her own stop to come up.

 _…_

The building was even more beautiful up close. She tried not to be too obvious to her shortcomings, but this was astounding. Even walking in the building was fabulous with all the lights and modernist designs. She held her binder close as her satchel hung carelessly on her side. Her admiration was cut short.

"May we help you?" a security guard said.

She jumped slightly and felt her cheeks flush at her missteps. Gripping the notebook tighter against her chest, she cleared her throat.

"Yes, I'm looking for a Miss Pepper Potts?"

"Name"

"O-oh, Tess Holmes sir"

"You're not on the list" he was quick to reply.

"B-but Mr. Stark hired me yesterday" her voice showed her nervousness, "h-he said he would put me on the list and Miss Potts would take care of the rest!"

The desperation in her voice was clear, and she tried not to wince at hearing it, but she needed this job and bad. For a brief second she wondered if this was all a prank by Mr. Stark, just making fun of a kid trying to grow up.

"You're not on the list kid, maybe another time" he waved her off.

Before he could even walk away, she found herself growing a spine and take the iPad from him. He protested but she scrolled hoping to find something that had some relation to her. Nothing.

"I know I'm hired. He promised me" she said louder, "I demand to speak to Miss Potts, because I did not do this commute just to be dismissed!"

Before she made a scene, a glamorous Tony Stark strolled into his building with a strawberry blonde beside him. She was clearly telling him things and he was listening half heartedly as they headed towards the secure area.

"Mr. Stark!" Tess yelled.

"No autographs, sorry kid"

"Mr. Stark it's me!" she rushed over much to the protests of the security guard. She never deemed herself as a running, but there she was in her boots hoping to catch the elusive man who promised her a job.

"You?" he took of his glasses and lifted his brow curiously. "And you are…"

"Mr. Stark, you hired me yesterday" she said her shoulders sagging, and her eyes dimming at his dismissive attitude. "You told me that I had to come in this morning to talk to a Miss Potts about what I could do! I-I'm here" her voice softened.

"You hired her?" Pepper Potts said curiously. "And you don't remember her?"

"You're sewer girl right?" he said suddenly. "Oh yes, she's hired, just…forget to tell you I guess. Take care of her okay? Figure out what she can do, and those reports….they can wait…till next year"

Before Pepper could protest Tony was off doing whatever he did. Pepper sighed before turning over to look at Tess who looked so grateful for this moment. The girl was young, that was the first thought that Pepper had before taking all of her in. She had to admit that the girl was not a usual hire from Tony and she genuinely wanted to work.

"Okay, shoot: what kind of experience do you have?"


	2. Bunny Beginnings

**_Author's Note:_** _This is a slow build to Steve, the reason being is that I want to flesh her out as a character and truly create her as a tangible and believable person. Also, her friendship with Tony is very important to build. This will go from the events of Iron Man 2, till Civil War. Thank you!_

 ** _The American Dream_**

 ** _Chapter 2: Bunny Beginnings_**

 _December 26, 2010_

When she imagined working for Tony Stark, this wasn't quite what she had in mind. She wasn't given the title of 'personal assistant' because it seemed too early to be called that. She was merely a gatekeeper. She documented who went in with Mr. Stark and who came out, and with what. If she wasn't so into tabloid magazines, she would have been appalled at how many models Tony slept with.

Today was her anniversary and she had been forced to stay under for the graveyard shift as someone had plans. It didn't matter if _she_ had plans because, the other had seniority. Benjamin had been furious over the fact that she had to cancel their usual plans of movie and dinner over her job. But no matter how shitty her job was, it paid the bills. And more importantly allowed her to study. Since MIT was a bit far from her at the moment, Miss Potts had mentioned that she should do online classes to get something in the meantime.

Miss Potts was a gem; her no nonsense attitude reminded Tess of her grandmother. She was beautiful, intelligent, and graceful and everything that Tess wanted to be when she grew up. More importantly, Miss Potts heard her stories; she knew how much Tess needed her job and how much it meant to be employed. Pepper knew her background and her heart of gold had decided to fund some sort of education for her. At the moment, Tess knew that her choices were limited; but more importantly, it allowed her to have something that she enjoyed. Her grandfather had always had a love for World War II, thus inspiring a joy for history. As she began her classes, she figured she was young enough to try a bit of everything. Thus her humanities major began with no money out of pocket. These were some benefits that she couldn't help but be relieved over.

Mulling over the answer for her quiz, her thought process was interrupted by high-pitched giggling. As the elevator doors swung open, she already knew what was coming out of it. Tony sauntered to the doors of the next elevators with two beautiful models in each arm. It astounded her how they allowed themselves to be part of this game, and more importantly how Tony didn't get tired of it.

As they began to just compliment him, Tess pretended not to listen, instead tried to remember what was the name of the general in charge of ground soldiers during the Normandy invasion.

"Oh Bunny?"

Tess winced knowing that he was calling her over. He tended to throw nicknames her way in part because it annoyed her, and another because it amused him. Bunny sprung from the way her nose crinkled when she was annoyed, or working very hard. The moment he had said it aloud, she reacted, and in that moment she knew it had stuck.

"Yes Mr. Stark?"

"It's Viscount Bernard Montgomery."

Those were his famous last words before the elevator doors closed. Tess cursed and wrote in the answer only to get it right. This was not her dream anniversary at all, but it was just one sacrifice that she had to make. As she rubbed her temples, she muttered to herself "One step at a time" over and over again until she continued her work once more.

 _…_

 _December 31, 2010 – 9:00pm_

The party was in full swing; the people around him were chatting him nonstop about what the New Year would bring their way. No matter how many ways they would phrase it, it was pretty clear they meant money. And this didn't bother Tony Stark one bit; he too wanted that. Money, parties, success, more adventures. This was the life and he knew his life was perfect.

As he moved through the sea of people, he saw Pepper chatting up with the date she had brought. This didn't bother him one bit, that's what he told himself. Especially when he had gone to Brown University, psh, it was no MIT. Nursing his brandy, something caught his eye through the glass door.

There was Bunny: he didn't quite remember her name after so many times of calling her Bunny. The way she was skittish, and always looked afraid of the world reminded him so much of the furry animal that he couldn't help but call her that. He knew that Brendan had called out saying that he would be taking a paid day off. He was more than happy to give the man much. But Bunny had stayed, and didn't even bother to ask for the day like everyone else. Instead she had stocked the bar full of alcohol, cleaned the penthouse, and made sure everyone had an invitation. He knew that it was because Pepper hadn't asked for the day and had worked her full shift that had kept her, the girl was loyal to Pepper.

Pepper in turn was very loyal to the girl herself. She spoke nothing but praises for the young lady and would constantly tell him she had potential for something great. She had better have, considering a Stark grant had been funding her classes recently. He pretended not to notice, but JARVIS had clearly explained it to him. Tony didn't mind, after all, the kid was alright.

At the moment she was packing up her things from her desk. She was out for the day it seemed. Something told him to go over there, just have a quick conversation with Bunny to see what she was up to. She seemed caught up in her world, putting that blue notebook in that satchel like she did every night. He didn't know what was in it, but he was a curious person and he couldn't help but wonder.

"Heading out are we?" He called out as he leaned against the frame.

As usual, she jumped and turned to look at him wide-eyed before relaxing slightly. She needed to work on her reflexes, at least in Tony's opinion. Soon her posture went to its normal stance and she smiled shyly at him. No matter how stressed she was, there was always a smile on her face, sometimes forced but never missing. He liked that in the kid.

"Did you need something Mr. Stark?"

"You didn't answer my question Bunny"

She lowered her gaze at his nickname for her and nodded.

"Yes Mr. Stark, I'm heading home"

"No plans for New Years? It's a great city to be in, why not ring in the New Year with a bang?"

She laughed softly and rubbed her arm nervously. "Well, Mr. Stark, I'll be heading home and watching the ball drop with my family and my boyfriend. Like I do every year"

"Boyfriend?" he repeated intrigued. "Whose your ball and chain? What does he do?"

She grinned and began to say a few things about her boyfriend. It was clear she cared for him, for whatever reason they were clearly monogamous. His career was boring from what Tony could guess. Either way, it seemed right for Bunny, a normal boyfriend for a boringly normal girl.

"Good for you Bunny. Now get out of here before we drag you in there"

"I'm only nineteen Mr. Stark, I'm not old enough to go drink"

"Right….so kids these days don't break the rules" he teased.

She shook her head and giggled.

" _I_ don't Mr. Stark. I like following the rules"

"JARVIS will take you home, just take the car there."

"But Mr. Stark-"

"You won't get home on time in this traffic. It's my gift to you for New Years"

"Mr. Stark….thank you" she said shyly.

"Oh and here!" Tony found himself taking out his checkbook and writing something quickly on it. As he ripped it from the leather-encased checkbook, he noticed her confusion. Handing it over he smiled brightly.

Tess didn't really know how to feel as he did this to her. Staring down at the check she couldn't help but re-read the amount. Five thousand? Why?

"W-why Mr. Stark?" she asked confused.

"You're a good kid, maybe it'll pay for a little thing here or there for you. Maybe a car?"

Her eyes watered in a way that made Tony uncomfortable. Tears in a woman's eyes weren't correlated to something good, but as the young girl launched herself on him and hugged him tightly, he figured that he hadn't done something terrible.

"You don't understand what this means Mr. Stark, this will help out my family so much" she murmured against his very expensive suit.

"Or you can spend it on yourself" he teased as he hugged her briefly before pulling back. "Maybe a few more dresses? Not that I like the yellow dress, but once a month is enough don't you think?"

She blushed hotly at his comment and nodded.

"P-perhaps something small for me"

"Here" another ripped check was sent her way. "Just to look a bit more…professional."

"I…. _Thank you_ " she breathed out. "You're amazing Mr. Stark"

As she looked at him excitedly, she gave him a thousand watt smile before rushing out. Somehow that grin had made him lose five thousand dollars.

"She's cute right?" Pepper said from behind him.

"Adorably so, remind me not to have my checkbook around her" he waved as he walked back to the party.

"There are worst things you could use your money on" she teased.

 _An hour later…._

"Thank you JARVIS" she said softly to the voice in the car before rushing towards her house.

It was ten o' clock and JARVIS has magically avoided all traffic. She never knew what to expect from Mr. Stark, but he was definitely a good boss…well on certain days. At the moment all that mattered was her getting to her family as quick as possible. Opening the door to her house, she took a deep breath taking in all the smells coming from the kitchen. She knew that it was as going to be a good New Year. The volume was all the way up on the television as her brothers chatted over one another with their girlfriends around them, but as they heard the door click behind them, they all turned.

"You made it querida!" Her grandmother said relieved before pulling her into a hug.

Tess hummed in agreement before hugging her tightly. No amount of glamor or party that was at Mr. Starks home would live up to her family's get together. As they began to catch each other on their days, Tess walked towards the other room where her grandfather was reading a book. Of everyone, he was always the quiet one of them all. Knocking on the opened door, her grandfather looked up and smiled lovingly at his only granddaughter.

"Grandpa, I was let free" she laughed.

"That Mr. Stark didn't yell at you for leaving early?" he said already getting annoyed at the mention of the man.

"No papa" she laughed softly. "He actually gave me something for you guys. He said it was for the work I do"

As she took out the check and handed it to him, she could tell that he wasn't' expecting it. Looking at her once more he shook his head.

"We cannot possibly take this, it's too much. We don't need it"

"We do papa," she said frowning, "imagine what we could do with the shop. Maybe some new tools or something…Mr. Stark has money to throw around and he said it was just a little something for me. Please take it, it will help us out."

She knew his pride stopped him from immediately taking it, but she was going to make sure he did so. They needed it, money wasn't flowing in as much as they would like and it would help.

"One day, I'll pay him back for it " she said softly. "He's a good man"

"Ay, he is, but we are not a charity case"

"No, we're not." she replied before hugging her grandpa. "He said this was for _my_ work, and _I_ want this for you. Plus, it's just for now, one day I won't be under his salary"

He laughed then and hugged her. That moment was when she knew she had won him over.

"Tess! Benji is here" her grandmother called out.

"Go meet him, I'll be out in a minute" her grandfather murmured.

"I love you" she replied before rushing to meet her boyfriend.

As soon as they all greeted one another and caught up, they found themselves spending the rest of the night eating, laughing and singing along with the radio. It wasn't as spectacular or as glamorous as she saw at Stark Tower, but it was something that she loved. Leaning against her boyfriend as they watched the ball drop felt perfectly right. As he moved down to kiss her, she knew this was a good start for 2011.

Meanwhile, in Manhattan a Tony Stark took in the New Year with a bang, with fireworks, a fiery kiss and a quick romp in the sheets with a model. Two very different New Years indeed.

 _….._

 _February 14, 2011_

She had not seen Mr. Stark in a month. Claiming that he was tired with the cold, he had flown to his Malibu home and had given her paid leave for a month. She didn't exactly know how to feel about it, but as the checks came in and Pepper reassured her it was normal, Tess took it in stride.

With the money given by Mr. Stark, Tess had managed to do a lot with it. Her family updated the auto repair shop and hired more hands to help. It seemed that it had made a difference as more people were coming in. As for Tess herself, she had found that shopping came a long way with the money he had given her. She had bought herself a new coat, new snow boots, and all different outfits to make her feel more of a professional.

Working for Mr. Stark was a very unique experience. He was careless and caring at the same time. It made no sense to those that didn't work with the man but this was the case. He was careless in where his money went, he exaggerated the portions of food he would need for a party, he would procrastinate the documents that needed his signature, and he would blame others for his shortcomings. It annoyed Pepper to no end, and in turn it annoyed Tess. There were many times she was yelled at for things he forgot to sign and in turn she never mailed out.

But then the other side of the coin came in his philanthropy work. He funded her educational endeavors (all thanks to Pepper) but she had a feeling he knew all about it. He always asked questions about his older employees' families and how they were. He remembered the most useless information about a person, yet forgot their birthdays. This man was an enigma that caused her to admire him all the more.

Today he had asked her to come in. It seemed that he had been there for two weeks and had locked himself in his office working on something that she had no clue over what. But Pepper had been given vacation with her boyfriend thus making Tess stuck with him.

 _Flashback…_

"Mmm…Hello?" a half-asleep Tess answered.

 _"Oh did I wake you Bunny?"_

It took her a while to realize who it was and she immediately shot up on her bed.

"Mr. Stark! Good Morning! I-I didn't know you had been back. Did you need anything?"

 _"Did the bed sheets get stuck or something? Did you forget?"_

"Forget?"

 _"I needed you to come in today. I told you that Pepper is gone so I need you to take her place while she's gone. Jeesh Bunny, didn't know you don't listen."_

"Mr. Stark, I haven't heard from you since last month when you decided to head back to Malibu?"

 _"Did I do that thing when I thought I told you but didn't?"_

"Yes Mr. Stark."

 _"Ah….well sorry about that Bunny. Can you come in? I….YES I'm on the phone!"_ he cleared his throat before starting to whisper once more. _"I might need you assistance on…something"_

Tess winced already imagining what this meant. Pepper had told her stories of his tendencies to not be good at saying bye to these women. She sighed.

 _"There's only so much hiding I can do now Bunny. Hurry up!"_

"Yes Mr. Stark"

As he hung up, Tess aloud herself to actually complain, it was one of those days that Mr. Stark had a pretend conversation about his plans. She hated when he did that. She was half tempted to call Miss Potts and beg her to come back. She began to dial, that is until she remembered how tired Miss Potts looked after working a long night. Sighing, she ended the call; it wasn't worth bothering her.

Rolling out of bed she forced herself into a pair of jet-black pants and a red blouse with a black lace top underneath. She wasn't going to bother with any dresses or anything that kept her from getting to Mr. Stark. She threw a pair of heels in her backpack and slapped on her pair of tennis shoes before rushing out of the house. She was in the middle of attempting to button her blouse, and at the same time trying to shut the door, when she looked up for a moment to see a black car. It was when she relaxed; JARVIS was driving, meaning she had enough time to prep herself.

As she opened the door, a voice caught her attention.

"Tess! Hold up!" She was surprised to see her boyfriend rushing over to her.

She noticed that he took notice of her outfit. Her hair was curled down, she was half naked rushing into a black car without even thinking about him. He was a bit annoyed; she could tell by the way his face scrunched.

"Where are you going?" he said trying to take a peek into the car.

"To work?" she said confused.

She was a bit frustrated herself at the fact he was interrupted her getaway. She had one foot in the car, yet her hands firmly on the car door. It was clear that this was not the response he was expecting.

"Whose car is that? Why are you going?"

"Oh Mr. Stark sent JARVIS to pick me up. He wanted me in early."

"And you're going?"

She tilted her head confused at his comment.

"Of course I am, he called me. It's my job" she murmured.

"Oh….I see…" this was not the tone she was expecting. He sounded very bitter and she knew he was biting back a witty retort.

"Did you need something?" she asked.

"No, no" he shook his head, "Just…nothing…are you coming back late?"

"I don't know" she replied honestly.

He didn't even bother giving her a goodbye kiss or any sort of farewell. She froze for a second wondering what went wrong. She almost called out to him, that is until that familiar voice interrupted her actions.

"Miss Holmes, Mr. Stark is waiting for you"

She nodded and slid into the car. This wasn't the time to think about her personal life, she had a job to do, and this was not going to wait any longer. As she closed the car behind her and it took off, she began to talk to him more casually, forgetting about Benjamin in just a few moments.

"Good Morning JARVIS, I wasn't expecting you here" she commented while attempting to put on makeup. Thankfully, the machine had enough decency to slide a mirror down allowing her a better look. As she began to put on her makeup JARVIS began the quickest route to the building.

Once they reached it, she managed to look acceptable enough, she slid out of the car and immediately walked through the halls of Stark Towers. Her heels clacked loudly down the nicely tiled floor. She greeted the doormen, and slid her security key on the reader before sliding up the elevator. Reaching the penthouse, she quickly, put in the passcode before the doors of his private penthouse opened.

She had only been there during her orientation with Miss Potts and it had been spotless. This was not what she saw the moment she walked in. For one thing, clothes were thrown everywhere, empty alcohol bottles were casually tipped over and she knew this was a mess she would have to clean up. Sighing she already felt a headache rising.

"Might as well start," she murmured softly to herself before taking out a trash bag and beginning to clean.

This was disgusting, and a bit humiliating if she was honest with herself. If her grandmother had found out about the things she was doing at work, she would have pulled her out of it.

"Oh I didn't know he had a cleaning lady"

That stopped Tess right in her tracks, turning around she noticed a blonde in a burgundy top staring at her amused. She immediately noticed that the woman was tall, around 5'9, had long beautiful hair that looked like gold, even bed hair seemed to fall in place. It was almost insulting how beautiful this woman was. But as her green eyes judged Tess, she knew immediately she hated her.

"He does, her name is Liza, and she comes in every Thursday."

"Then what are you his, wipe off girl?"

The snap in the woman's tone made Tess drop all the things on the ground. She was rarely angry but at that moment she was so embarrassed to be there. Where the hell was Mr. Stark?! Had he just left her to clean his place?

"Mr. Stark would not like it if you spoke to Miss Holmes that way" JARVIS' voice rung out the room.

Tess felt a brief moment of relief realizing that she wasn't totally alone. JARVIS might be a machine, but in all honesty she had grown to like him like a friend that she enjoyed talking to. She had so many questions about artificial life and how Mr. Stark managed with JARVIS.

It was clear that her job was to kick her out. Taking a deep breath she took the moment of confusion to make the woman realize what she was here for.

"Mr. Stark has asked me to clean up, that includes you Miss…"

"Braxton" she hissed angrily already realizing where this was going. "And I'm not going, my things aren't ready"

"Actually they are" JARVIS replied having a robot hand her the clothing from the previous night.

"Everything you need is there, along with a complimentary gift card from American Express to get yourself something nice. Please have a nice day"

Before the woman began to curse at her, JARVIS began to blow the wind towards the woman, pushing her out the door. Tess was shaking in nerves over what she had done.

"Not bad"

She turned to see Mr. Stark popping his head into the living room, checking if the coat was clear. She glared at the older man at how cowardly he was at the moment.

"I want a raise Mr. Stark" she blurted out. "This is not in my job description"

"First thing you said? Done" he walked into the room in a casual Rolling Stones shirt, and a pair of dirty jeans, "for the second thing, I disagree. If you work with Pepper things carry over to you, and you know that"

"….I'm not cleaning this up" she added trying not to pout.

But he just shrugged not really minding it.

"That's fine, I just needed you for that, you can go home I guess? I'll be downstairs working on something."

She almost wanted to take him up on that offer that is until she realized this was her moment. The thought of having some time to actually see his work, work that she admired…. well she could at least ask.

"Mr. Stark? May I…may I see your lab?"

That wasn't what he was expecting, it was clear from the way he turned around to face her. He seemed curious as to what she wanted, was this actually for interest? Or was she being nosy?

"Why?"

"Well…" she flushed slightly, "I am a fan, and well, um…I read your article on MIT Technology Review, about your thought about going into renewable energy, and I read about how you took interest in using the same science for weapons of war to do more humanitarian work. I find that astounding considering that the debris in weapons, could potentially end the wars of course, but more importantly find different outlets in growing from the casualties. In fact I-"

"You read the MIT Technology Review?" was all he got from that rant of hers.

She merely nodded shyly.

"You build?"

"Sometimes" she replied, looking away. "I-uh, most of the things I try and build are from an auto shop, I don't have the resources to be honest"

When he said nothing for a few minutes, she had feared that he had either tuned out or basically deemed her unworthy of going into his workshop. Taking a deep breath she figured she could pretend that the conversation never happened, turning to face him, she realized he was gone.

"Aren't you coming?" He popped his head back in and grinned.

"O-oh yes!"

Rushing over to catch up she couldn't believe that she had her shot at making an impression. She grabbed her bag tightly, unwilling to let it go, as they went up the elevator and towards his workspace. Walking into his lab, she never really knew what to expect, but the moment he lead her to the large space, she knew that this was her Disneyland. The lights appeared to shoot from the machines and JARVIS began to throw dating onto the screens as more things began to come to life.

"Wow" she breathed out.

"I know" he said cockily.

Turning to look at him, it was clear that she was so appreciative. He knew he had done the right thing by letting her come to his sanctuary. Piper was usually the only one allowed in, but something told him that Bunny had something under her sleeves.

"So…what's in that bag that you're holding so tightly?" he asked curiously.


	3. Start of a Beautiful Friendship

**_Author's Note:_** _Thanks for the reviews and the follows! This chapter will fast forward a bit throughout the year that deepens the friendship between Tony and Tess and more importantly, will change her whole view on life._

 ** _The American Dream_**

 ** _Chapter 3: Start of a Beautiful Friendship_**

 _February 14, 2011_

This wasn't exactly what she expected when he showed her his office; this was not just an office, this was his world. He explained his ideas through the holographic screens, the way he swiped through the different projects made her just shake in excitement. This was the man she wanted to meet: she didn't care for the playboy who had no idea what her name was and was so privileged that had no clue what real life was. This man in front of her was Tony Stark. As he explained everything, she could imagine how his mind work and his mind was beautiful.

"Enough about me, what do _you_ have to show _me?_ "

For a brief moment she thought he was being leery and almost hit him, that is until she noticed his eyes were not on her, but her bag. He was freely unzipping it, hoping to find something to keep his attention. This was one thing she was not expecting. She had always assumed that he was very self-centered, and to be fair he probably was, but at this moment he was sharing his space with her. This was her chance.

"I-I…" she wrung her hands nervously. "I have a few ideas"

She moved closer and took her notebook out, the one that she knew that he was more interested in. Flipping through the pages, she found herself wondering what would be worth showing. This was a man that probably had ideas for everything, yet there she was hoping something could make him think she was worth this time.

" I have this idea well, that would be good for health care," she murmured.

Tony moved to his keyboard and then blue lights surrounded her. She looked at him confused, but he simply signaled her to draw. That was what he mouthed to her.

She lifted her hand carefully, experimenting with the new technology. As she made a flick movement lines began to form: she got it. Immediately she began to sketch her ideas, her brain began to run on full gear. She ignored Tony completely as she began to think at a faster pace specifically for her idea.

"Explain" he murmured.

"It's a medical kit of sorts with artificial intelligence. It would be light, portable and able to heal and diagnose problems of people without the need of another person there." She thought of having a suitcase of sorts, light, and dropped from an airplane. "The reasoning behind it would be that doctors are often times limited when it comes to wartime, or even in more remote locations. My solution would be creating an artificial life that has empathy, would diagnose and more importantly offer solutions, healing and comfort to the people all around."

"How would this work?"

"Well, I imagine something light," she explained sketching the different meshes, skins, "something that would simulate the comfort of a human doctor and a voice" she began waving her hands in hopes something would pop up.

 _"Interesting"_ his tone changed and he walked forward. "You would be looking for something to simulate a human voice? Like JARVIS?"

"Yes of sorts" she said excitedly, "JARVIS is amazing, he communicates with you as a human being would, I would like to simulate that, without the formalities and in Multilanguage in hopes that it could be helpful towards underprivileged communities. Imagine, the international good it could do."

"You" he poked the side of her head lightly "thought that up?"

She looked bashful in that moment; the excitement from her ideas, shifted and then the shyness rose. She didn't know if he was underestimating her, humoring her, or actually interested, but the way he continued made her think that this wasn't so bad.

"I did" she said softly.

"Good" he clapped his hands and the holographs disappeared, "hungry?"

"What?" she asked confused.

"Inventing always gets me in the mood for Chinese. So how about it?"

….

Hours later their brainstorming sessions shifted from formal language to them sitting in the middle of his workshop, sharing dumplings as different ideas floated over them as they doodled through holographs.

"See, what about plastic? It's cheap and easy to create a mesh"

She dipped her dumpling in soy sauce and considered his options. The boss, assistant mood shifted into one of colleagues as they chatted. She had the delight of realizing he did know her name, just that he preferred annoying her more than anything. She also learned how despite his playboy ways he respected her greatly, even helped her develop her ideas in a way to make them more tangible.

"But then I would want something biodegradable" she added before chewing her food.

His eyes crinkled amused at the way she shut down his ideas in a non-malicious way. He knew that she had potential for something good. She was good, nothing spectacular about her, nothing secretive, she was as good as good got and it was both disgusting and adorable at the same time. She had hopes for saving humanity, in a dreamer gun-ho kind of way that made him realize she knew very little of the world. She had mentioned her family and how they worked with their hands for the majority of their lives. They bonded over their parenting, the limits and the love that they did receive. But most importantly he realized that she had a bubble around her; without the experience of the world that would make her ideas grow from ideas to reality.

"This is the best Valentine's Day ever" he commented offhandedly, "granted this wouldn't be the first Valentine's Day that ended with an nineteen year old" she made him a face of confusion to one of annoyance real quick, "but despite the titillating previous one, I think I like this one better."

"I didn't even realize that was today" she frowned, "no wonder Ben was angry with me leaving without saying when I would return"

"Uh oh, Benjiboo mad at you?" he teased.

She glared and took a dumpling from his plate as a response. He pretended to be annoyed to see some glee in her expression. She wasn't as worried as she would have been had she been totally happy with her boyfriend. Not that he would say a word, he knew better than to do that to her.

"He doesn't understand that's all" she lowered her gaze towards her plate as she moved her food around sighing. "His plan of getting out of Queens is to just…study get out and don't look back. I on the other hand…am not doing it the way he would like."

"He doesn't like this?"

She chuckled and shrugged. "He doesn't get it, he thinks this is my peak, being a receptionist without a diploma."

"He's judgmental?" he shook his head and spoke up, "Tell that little dork, that you're worth more than a stupid diploma. Who needs it?"

"Mr. Stark, you have a diploma from MIT" she said dryly.

"First of all, it's Tony, and second of all, I was seven and life was boring in the mansion and school. I mean imagine having so many ideas and your mind never shutting up?" he waved it off and continued with his rant. "Law boy can do what he wants, just know your worth shouldn't correlate as to what he thinks. You have ideas there that are worth their weight in gold and what will he have? A piece of paper that will make no promises in success, you on the other hand, you're brilliant. And I know brilliant"

She gave him a half-hearted smile at him trying to comfort her in his old weird way. She knew that often times there were cracks in her relationship with Ben, but what stopped her from ending it was the love that was there. She loved him deeply, he was her family, her partner in crime, her boyfriend. She couldn't imagine life without him. It must have shown in her face from his next comment.

"You love the SOB don't you?" he shook his head. "What's it with you kids and settling down these days?"

She laughed softly. "Settling down?"

"You want that happy ending don't you?" he pried. "The kids, the house, the cute _I Love Lucy_ kind of love?"

She shook her head.

"I'm too young to think like that" she laughed softly, "I don't know if this is forever but I'm happy, for the most part, but I don't want to be a housewife wanting more."

"Good" Tony interrupted her, "you're a good kid. And if the whole MIT thing is what you want to do, you'll get in, I mean look at this." He pointed at the sketches floating around them. "You're worth more than just a housewife, my mother was everything to me, and she…she was just a housewife, but she had potential for more"

She nodded softly and they both grew quiet, both lost in thoughts over what they had shared.

 _Hours later…._

This time around, it wasn't her and JARVIS, but rather Tony along for the ride. He was curious to take a look at how the other side lived, much to her amusement. They chatted throughout the ride, with her explaining the importance of certain stores to her community and which streets to avoid at night. He seemed enthralled to say the least. It was amusing to her how he listened to the simplest of things.

"Mr. Stark, Miss Holmes, we've arrived" JARVIS interrupted their conversation.

Both got out of the car and sort of stood there awkwardly waiting to say their goodbyes. It was weird for the both of them that the bubble had burst of sorts. There was nothing more obvious at how different they were as they stood outside her family's home.

"Thank you Tony" she said softly,

"What are you thanking me for? For letting you be my assistant?"

She laughed softly at how playful he was with her. He was charming, oozing it so easily without realizing it, and she liked him for it. He was a good man, imperfect, but a good man.

"You know why" she looked up at him, "you listened to me without laughing at me and helped me do something with the sketches. And you fed me" she added with a laugh.

"Well…" he scuffled his foot acting bashful much to her amusement. "Bunny, I like you, you got ideas that I would be interesting in working on. How about we talk about your job title tomorrow morning?"

"Morning?" she lifted her brow amusingly. He was never there in the morning.

"Afternoon" he corrected himself grinning.

"I'd like that" she said nervously. "Thanks for the night"

"It was fun, let's do it again, minus the angry blonde"?

"Agreed" she laughed softly. "Goodnight Tony!"

As she walked towards her home and closed the door behind her, Tony stared at the shabby looking house and shook his head. Who would have thought his little Bunny was brilliant? He grinned and shook his head. Opening the car, a voice stopped him.

"Is it really necessary to do that?"

"Excuse me?"

A tall lanky kid with messy black hair and blue eyes stared at Tony annoyed. He had no clue who this kid was, but sometimes told him that he was ignoring the obvious signals.

"Why of all days did you have to keep her away from me? It's _our_ day"

"Ah, the disgruntled boyfriend." It all clicked. "Well sorry kid, but we were doing something more valuable than cheap flowers and a bad rom-com."

"It's not cheap" Ben said embarrassed at the bouquet he held. "And we're a couple, in case she hasn't told _you_ "

"Well she did tell me about you…Dennis is it?"

"Ben" the boy stressed the word.

"Right" Tony smirked, "we talked _a lot_ about different things, and you were mentioned. I just want to tell you one little thing."

"What's that?" Ben said warily.

"Don't keep her from being brilliant" Tony warned him. "She's got a gorgeous brain, I know you see her pretty face, and I do too" he got a glare as a response, "but more importantly, she is meant for something more than some cheap flowers. Don't keep her away from the potential. And don't worry about me kid, we're-"

"You're just her boss, nothing more."

"We're friends" Tony stressed. "And don't forget what I said before she leaves you for something better. Don't shield her from what she can be."

"I love her" Ben stressed looking a bit panicky.

"Good, you might be a nice kid, but don't hinder her with that love crap. Trust me love gets you no where"

Ben watched Tony drive away leaving him looking on in frustration. As he held the flowers tightly, he worried more than ever that he would lose the person that loved him more than anything.

"Ben? Is that you?" Tess called out, now in pajamas looking confused. "Were you talking with someone?"

He tried to ignore Tony's words of warning and instead decided to work it out with her. He had planned more of an argument, but as she looked at him all lovingly, he knew that she did care. Walking over he merely kissed her, handed her flowers and allowed himself in so they could talk.

….

 _March 10, 2011_

Tess and Tony immediately grew close; their friendship consisted over take out, sketches and mentorship. Her job had changed from receptionist, to mentee, and she enjoyed it greatly. She learned that Tony made up a position for her, that involved being his shadow of sorts. He had explained that he wanted to show her the ropes and wanted to make her learn everything she could to be an asset to Stark Industries.

Pepper had no problems with it, especially because she cared for Tess greatly, and more importantly, she realized she was a good influence for Tony. She asked questions, made sure that she had time for Pepper and more importantly, kept things tidy. Women were less inclined to approach him during a dinner if the table consisted of papers being drawn on and not a single glass of scotch close to his hand. When this had all started, Pepper grew worried about how he would corrupt the young girl, but when he told her what he hoped for Tess, she knew he had good intentions.

In Tony's perspective, he wanted to give someone something that he never got from his father: a true mentorship. The girl had so much potential for more than just ideas, he wanted her to become her own mogul in her own right, within Stark Industries of course. He wanted her to invent, grow, expand her mind to become a Stark asset in her own right, and more importantly, be who she was meant to be. He wasn't quite sure if it was the guilt of having so much to become who he was, or the fact that she was a blank slate, something that could be molded in whatever way he wanted. He didn't want to overthink it, all he knew was that this nineteen year old had potential for more than just an assistant.

"That's backwards" she said amused as he worked on his car.

"Shut up I know, now hold the instructions straight" he replied as he once more slid under the truck.

"Tony, you have holographic screens everywhere, why am I holding this piece of paper?"

"Because it's funny?"

Her response was a ball of paper that he assumed were the instructions thrown towards him. Ever since that night a month ago, their conversations had changed to one of true friends. She was more honest, not quite as outspoken as he would have liked, but she didn't keep too much from him and he was pleased with that much.

"You know, I found something interesting while cleaning up last week" She began.

"Did you throw those away? I wanted to add them to my collection."

As soon as Tony said it, he slid from under the car to find Tess looking at him not amused, that is until he cracked a grin, slowly her expression changed to show her true emotions.

"You pig"

"I'm kidding….sort of, avoid the third drawer on the left"

"Ugh"

"I'm kidding, what did you find?"

"This!" She said excitedly while shoving the VHS tape towards him. "Do you know what it is?"

"Jeez, what's this even doing here?" he inspected it curiously, "This piece of old technology in my home disgusts me"

She rolled her eyes and got up. "JARVIS, can you play this for us?"

"Of course Miss Holmes, please place it in the keyboard."

Tess grinned and turned to look at Tony.

"So…nothing old?"

"Shut up, and play it"

The tape took a while until the scratches disappeared and in front of them was a face that Tony had not seen in over ten years. There in front of him was his father, looking surprisingly excited as he began to explain the Stark Expo. The voice went on and on about the amazing advancement of science and what the future held.

"You look like him" she murmured.

"Why must you hurt me?" he grumbled.

As she nudged him softly he scoffed; his father was a sore spot, she could tell as much as he looked sort of detached as he saw his father on screen. Even throughout the house, his mother was the center of his life, long ago, his father was never as loving as he seemed apparently.

"Stark Expo?"

"My dad once believed that there the brightest could come together to advance the world."

"Sounds too good to be true"

"Exactly"

"You know, would it be so terrible to bring it together now?" Tess suggested.

"What do you mean? Me do that?"

"Well why not? You're looking for something new now that you're not doing weapons? Why not see what others are doing and what can inspire you?"

"I have a great idea, why don't I bring back the Stark Expo to the 21st century?"

Tess squinted as she stared at him. As he nudged her once, twice, and on the third time she rolled her eyes.

"Sometimes I hate you"

….

 _April 22, 2011_

AC/DC music boomed throughout the stadium as people cheered and scantily clad women danced around in sexy versions of the Iron Man suit. And on the sidelines stood Tess and Pepper with their arms crossed watching at how people screamed over Tony's entrance.

"This wasn't' what I had in mind when I suggesting bringing it back"

Pepper sighed "Well, this is all Tony's show, how are you surprised?"

"I know," Tess shook her head amused. "To think, this is the first time I see the Iron Man suit in action….for a concert"

That made Pepper laugh and Tess had no choice but to join her too. They heard the chants of Tony over and over again as fireworks boomed over. When Tony began his speech, about basically him bringing world peace, Tess rolled her eyes.

"What a ham"

As he ended his speech and went to the side to allow Howard's speech to go on, Tess noticed he seemed a bit distracted. She walked over across the back of the stage and towards him while Pepper took care of the front as usual. She shoved through some people to find him looking a somber.

"Tony?"

Lifting his head immediately he put something in his back pocket and smiled brightly once more. She knew that he was keeping something from her, but she said nothing, instead rushed over to hug him tightly.

"You ham!"

"I know, but wasn't it great?"

"It was" she laughed, "what now?"

As he grabbed her hand and began to tug her along, she knew it was the 'walking and talking' time of the night she hated so much. This was her first outing with him, and from the amount of security around him, she figured it was one of those days were she hoped she didn't get a panic attack.

"What-"

"Just smile, pretend to be happy to see them, and don't let them drag you away. If they drag you I lose you and that's hard to come back for you got it? Security should keep them away."

"And Pepper?" she murmured as people were putting Tony's new suit together for his new appearance.

"She doesn't like these kinds of things, plus she needs to look at the people coming."

"Why couldn't I stay with her?" she asked trying not to whine.

"Because…you're my mentee and not hers. Now someone bring her a change of outfit she looks like a child"

"Hey!"

As people began to circle around her she began to panic as women began to tug things off of her and put things on. She had one woman lift one foot and place a heel, and another woman strapping a bra on, while another was pulling her hair up. She cried in pain as one plucked her eyebrows. This was not what she envisioned when she agreed to this. One swipe of gloss on her lips, and then they pulled back. She looked down to notice one of a few things. 1. She did not look like herself and 2. This probably cost a lot.

"Now she looks presentable!" Tony grinned, "Now smile, wave and don't panic"

"What?"

Before she could ask again, the door opened and people began to scream for Tony. She looked wide-eyed at the flashing cameras, the woman rushed to him, and the space suddenly felt enclosed. She was thankfully being pushed forward by the guards as to not get lost, and she gripped her security badge tightly as women tried to come into the circle.

"This is …"

And for thirty minutes that's how sentences began. People greeted Tony like old friends and Tony had no clue who any of them were, she knew from the fake smile he gave them. It was funny to her how fake this all was, and more importantly, she realized how she didn't belong here.

As they finally made it out of the building, she tried not to trip on the heels. Tony was clearly in a rush to get out of there too, as he was muttering for his urge for a burger. At the end of the red carpet was a new luxury car with an attractive woman waiting.

"Would you stop being my friend if I left you here and left with her?" he asked curiously.

"Not necessarily, but I would hurt you next time I saw you and I would require a 'Sorry' gift"

"Duly noted" he then turned to the woman. "Hello! Do you come with the car? What are you doing later?"

As the flirted, the guards slowly moved to the next vehicle and she was going to follow that is until an envelope was given to Tony from the woman.

"What is this?" he asked.

"A subpoena" she replied.

That got Tess' attention, as he was being served, he signaled her to get in. Sliding into the passenger seat of a car that cost more than her whole house, Tony made her take the subpoena.

"So Washington D.C… what did you do?"

"What didn't I do? How far to D.C.?"

"Two hundred miles?"

He shrugged and began to drive off.

"Tony!"

"Call Ben to reschedule, we have court!"

"Ugh!"

….

 _April 23, 2011_

Pepper was already waiting for them when they reached D.C. Once they left, he had stopped to get food, and the drive began. Thankfully she had gotten a change of clothing for them, and a cup of coffee to get them going.

Tess had never gone to court, and yet there she was, tying her hair up in a bun, slipping on a skirt, pantyhose, the whole nine yards for whatever fuck-up that Tony had done. She loved him to death, but federal court was a place she wanted to stay far away from.

Her phone would not stop ringing as well, much to her annoyance. As she slipped a new pair of shoes, she finally relented and picked up the call.

 _"Where are you?"_

"I spoke with grandma before I got here you know"

 _"You didn't call me! We had a deal. You can go gallivant all you want with you work husband, but you always come back to me."_

"Okay, for one thing, he is not my work husband, he is my boss and my mentor, and two, I called you and you didn't respond. I assumed you were sleeping!"

 _"Bull, I saw the pictures from last night, you sure looked that you weren't there for work. You know what people are calling you?"_

"I don't care what people are calling me, what are _you_ calling me?"

" _I look like a fool trying to explain this to my friends!"_

"If you trust me you'll let this go! Tony is just my friend who…shit. I have to go" she murmured as Pepper signaled her the hearing was going to start.

 _"We are not done talking!"_

"It's on CNN if you want to see where I am. Love you bye"

She hung up on Ben without a second thought as she rushed to get the seats behind Tony. Pepper and her sat down quietly, as Tony began to chat with them as if nothing was wrong. Pepper signaled him to pay attention, and he did so sassily.

Sassy was the one word that Tess' mind kept coming back to as he returned the conversation to the senate. They wanted the Iron Man suit, and they argued over it being for security reasons. She called bull, especially when they spoke about countries perfecting the Iron Man suit.

He turned around and signaled her to use his phone. Lowering her gaze on the phone, she began to lock the screen onto the computers and began to run the system. The words ' _Welcome Mr. Stark'_ appeared on the screen and then Tony's true charm began.

"Now let's see what's going on. If you take a look at your screens" Tony began, "I believe that's North Korea" a pathetic looking robot, fell over shooting all over the people in a high level massacre.

Tess winced, but as he signaled her to move towards another screen, she did as he ordered.

"Iran…." An explosion, "no immediate threat here"

As they began to panic and try to turn off the screens, Tess immediately swiped her screens in a circular motion to make it to the most precious section.

" Is that Justin Hammer? How did Hammer get into the game? Justin you're on TV, smile"

The panic and the laughter began.

As Mr. Hammer began to look embarrassed, Tony began to talk about privatization, and world peace, people began to clap to support him. She shook to her head, as the senators began to curse them out. He began to shake their hands, and Tess got up already knowing the court was adjourned. She lowered her heads to the cameras, and immediately moved to follow him.

"Can I go home now Tony?" she asked softly.

That's when Tony looked to see how tired she looked and he couldn't help but remember that she was not used to the life. She was still so fresh, yet loyal as ever. He liked loyalty; he rewarded it beautifully. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders he tugged her along.

"Tony" she whined.

"The black car will take you home, alright?" he kissed her cheek, "Sleep and I'll bother you tomorrow"

"On Friday" she grumbled, "give me some vacation after this"

"Boyfriend get mad?"

"Tony" she warned.

"Fine, fine….Friday works. See ya bunny"

"Bye Tony"

Crawling into the back seat, she threw off the heels and curled into the seats. She was too tired to even call her grandparents. Sometimes when it came to working with Tony, it meant getting into things you never expected. But she couldn't complain too much. As she dozed off, she dreamt about all the possibilities of Stark Expo.


	4. New Model

**_Author's Note:_** _Thanks for the reviews and the follows! This chapter will fast forward a bit throughout the year that deepens the friendship between Tony and Tess and more importantly, will change her whole view on life._

 ** _The American Dream_**

 ** _Chapter 4: New Model_**

 _May 10, 2016_

Tess was on the Stark private Jet to California and she couldn't believe it. She packed what items that she assumed she would use while she was away and she was so excited. It was the little things that Tony didn't understand that brought her so much joy. Her grandparents were excited for her, despite the rocky start, they had to admit that they saw her happier than ever and more importantly she was making a difference in the house. There was more food to go around, more bills being paid and they were getting better. Benjamin and her had gotten into an argument since the day she returned from D.C. It had not been pretty; in fact, this was the worst fight they'd ever had.

 ** _Flashback…_**

 _"Please don't be mad" she begged him softly._

 _"How can you expect me not to be?" he waved his hands around. "You go off anywhere at any time with no responsibilities or ties to anything it seems. Well what about us?"_

 _"What about us?" she repeated the questions annoyed. "We're fine, you go to school, you have your friends, your life, why can't I have one too?"_

 _"Because….our lives will eventually become one. Babe…you and I are forever" he softened his voice, "I know you're it. I'm done searching, you're it."_

 _Her expression softened at his comments. She knew that he had life prepared for them, he had everything sketched out in his head, but he didn't understand sometime important._

 _"How many years of our lives have you planned?" she looked like she was reigning in some anger._

 _"W-what?"_

 _"Please answer my question. In your mind, how many years of our lives have you fleshed out?"_

 _"I don't know…five years? Ten tops? Nothing is in stone really, I don't know why you're changing the conversation." He looked confused._

 _"No…I mean, what is the goal here? What's going to happen to us, in your mind?"_

 _"Well, I graduate and get into law school, with whatever clerical job I can get in the meantime we can work towards moving to someplace small but better situation. When we turn twenty eight perhaps we can start talking about kids and we move to the suburbs with great commute time. And I don't know you can stay home with our kids while I –"_

 _"Twenty-eight?" she breathed out, "Kids? Moving? I stay home? You've planned all of this…almost ten years of our lives already? I don't want to stay home, I want to work, I want to explore the world, see things I've never seen!"_

 _"We can! And we can baby" he grabbed her hands tightly. "We can explore the world once I'm something. I'll take care of us, and we'll be okay. When I've made it you can quit your job and we can figure something out."_

 _"I love my job" she murmured. "Tony…he's better than any MIT program I could imagine"_

 _That's when he rolled his eyes and the true argument grew more._

 _"No! Hear me out" she protested at his facial expression. "Tony is helping me become me." She breathed out, "He questions my ideas, fleshes them out, we're in the midst of creating a prototype for A.I.D.E.R, and more importantly with Stark Expo I can show it and go to MIT!"_

 _"Aiden?"_

 _"AIDER" She repeated, "Artificial Intelligence Diagnosing Emergency Robot! I've spoken about this for years!"_

 _"Seriously? This is what you bring up, a robot?"_

 _"It's not any robot!" she said angrily, her face turning red, "this is my ticket to make a name out of myself. You always say how I'm doing nothing; well I'm proving you wrong. Tony says-"_

 _"You always bring him up!"_

 _"Because he is supporting me! You think my ideas are a waste, but they are just as important as your education. Why can't you support me?"_

 _"Because there is no guarantee that you'll be successful. Just go to school any school and get your engineering degree. Please."_

 _"I can't talk to you about this anymore. If you don't support me, then we shouldn't even be together"_

 ** _End flashback_**

That was the last thing she said before flying to Malibu. She didn't know what future held for them, but what was clear was that she had set her foot down about what would go on with them. But she knew she needed to think about herself, and it was okay to be a bit selfish.

As the plane landed, she found herself grabbing her things and rushing excitedly to see Tony. She hadn't seen him in almost two weeks and she wanted to see his stupid face. He was the mentor she always wanted and no matter how petty her arguments were with Ben, he would listen. She thought it was because he was interested in the stupidest of things sometimes. But he was also her best friend and both could admit it freely.

Picking up her luggage she found herself rushing towards the greeting gates and looking expectantly for Tony. He knew she would be landing at ten am, and yet he was nowhere to be found. Maybe he would be sending someone? But he always liked doing the greeting with her.

"Well look who made it to the Sunshine state!"

"That's Florida, Tony" she laughed and rushed over to hug him tightly. He immediately picked her up and hugged her back knowing how both of them missed one another.

"You just teach me something new every time I see you don't you?"

"Hmm…I just think you like playing stupid" she giggled as she held him tightly.

Their hug was one of the longer ones, where they realized how dependent they had become to one another. Closing her eyes slightly she took a deep breath, taking in the subtle smell of the oil from the tinkering and the expensive cologne that surrounded him.

"Should I take the bags Mr. Stark?" a voice interrupted their reunion.

Tess tensed and popped her head up looking directly at a new face. The woman had rich auburn hair and her eyes green, as she looked friendly at the pair. Her proportions were almost too perfect, and the smile too forced. No matter how the woman stood, something in Tess made her not trust her.

"Who is she?" she asked directly.

"My name is Natalie Rushman" she replied politely. "I am Mr. Stark's new assistant"

"What?" was all she could reply with.

"You heard her, I figured I needed an assistant" Tony said tugging her along towards the location of their car.

"Where's Pepper?" The thought of him firing her was going to start an argument between the pair.

"She's too busy cleaning after me since she's the CEO of Stark Industries" he explained smoothly.

"What?!"

As he tugged her into the car he began to explain his decision. It made perfect sense she supposed, Pepper gave her blood sweat and tears for the company, and naming her as the CEO seemed like the most perfect option. The thing was that something just didn't seem right in her gut about how smoothly this all went.

"You stepped down then.." she said softly, ignoring Natalie completely.

"Yes, I think that it's the best option. Pepper is always more involved in everything"

"Well yeah but….you are Stark Industries Tony" she said softly. "You're the face, the heart the…you"

That made him give her one of those special smiles that she knew was designated for only special moments. She knew that there was something behind his decision but she wasn't going to pry…. at least not when there were strangers in the car.

"You're still my mentor right?" She added after a bit.

Tony tugged her his direction and she sat beside him. He patted her head in a patronizing manner and she slapped his hand.'

"The way I see it, yes. Pepper will do all the things that Pepper was already doing, just without my signature and you, you will learn the ropes to one day just be Pepper's…Pepper I guess."

"I don't want to be Pepper's Pepper, I want to be Tony" she said honestly.

"Miss Potts is an amazing woman and she-"

Tess glared at the older woman for getting into their conversation and Tony realized that something wasn't vibing quite right between the pair. Tess was never hostile, and it seemed very out of character. He wondered briefly if he should say something.

"She is" Tess interrupted immediately, "and while she is a fantastic human being, I am not interested in the business side of Stark Industries" she looked away from Natalie, "I'm interested in building, creating, designing and inventing. Tony…that's you"

"Well…I've been talking to the lawyers and well there is nothing that states that you can't be my heir of it with Pepper."

"Tony" she warned, "you tried this joke a week ago and I hung up on you."

"Yes well I wasn't joking" he admitted. "You will work with me to be a future me when you're all grown up"

She rolled her eyes.

"We're going to talk about this in detail when in private Tony"

"Sometimes I feel like you need to stop hanging out with Pepper"

….

Reading over the Natalie Rushman's resume gave Tess a sense of inferiority. The woman was perfect: she modeled, was a genius, was gorgeous and had men fawning over her. She didn't really care about the last part, but being beautiful and smart was unfair. The way she overly flirted with Tony, annoyed her.

She wasn't jealous, at least not how people would assume. She was used to having his attention, always looking over her shoulder and adding commentary to her new ideas but now he was fawning over his newest hire.

 _'Maybe that's what he does?'_ her mind told her. _'You're grown out of your charm"_

Her anxiety did breed a lot of insecurities on her part, but some part of her hoped that Tony was better than that. He had to be right?

"You're doing it again" he commented.

"Hm?"

"You have that glazed distracted look" he poked her forehead softly. "What do you think of her?"

Slowly she moved her glaze from the resume to Tony's face and saw his expression. He actually expected her to answer that? Why would it matter what she thought? Wasn't the fact that the woman was well a superhuman enough for him to already keep her?

"You hired her already Tony" she chuckled. "What does it matter what I think?"

"Well your opinion matters, Pepper already inputted hers, it's only fair that you do that too."

"Why? Tony, Pepper has been in your company for years and she's devoted to it. Her being CEO and making her opinions count matters…it doesn't compare to me who-" she ended her comment by just shrugging it off.

"You're not just-" he copied her shrug to annoy her. It worked. "You have potential to move up and become an inventor in your own rights. You are the future of Stark Industries."

She shook her head.

"Tony, you _are_ Stark Industries. You are it." She smiled softly.

Somehow he managed to make her insecurities lessen by just saying he valued her. It was pathetic how she depended on reinforcement from others to show her worth, but when it was Tony and the genius that he was, it did in fact matter. Opening her mouth, she began to speak her opinion of Natalie, and despite her distrusting attitude, she said nothing but good things.

What she didn't know was that he wasn't even listening. He was already formulating plans for the young woman's future. She was young, eccentric, humble and creative; she was the future of the company. Her hands would build inventions that would grow the company even bigger and with Pepper at the head of the company, it would succeed past his death. And his death was what was coming if he didn't figure it out. He was slowly dying, the poison seeping into his body and they had no clue. If Pepper was the head of the company, his little Bunny would be the heart. It would be perfect.

"Are you even listening to me?" she screeched.

Aannndd she caught on. Based on her expression, it was clear that she was annoyed. He made her that face that said ' _I am so innocent about this'_ that made her sour expression change.

"I hate you sometimes"

"You love me" he grinned.

"Now come on let me show you what I'm working with. If you think that was good wait till you get a load of Malibu" As he grabbed her hand, they walked downstairs towards the lab.

That's when the true magic of their relationship started. Words weren't necessary as they began to construct what could possibly change the future. There were moments where she noticed that he seemed distracted, often times looking away, like something was on his mind. For a man that talked so much, she realized how little he was actually saying. She was in the middle of creating the voice, when something caught her eye.

His back was to her, and he seemed to be holding something. She bit her lip and looked on, not realizing the significance in his actions. When he turned around, she pretended to be looking away, only to notice he began his act once again.

 _'Maybe he's texting a potential girlfriend?'_ her mind began to formulate different reasons why he was acting so weird, but nothing stuck. It was only later that she had to mention something. She was covered in plastic wiring, her hair was covered in oil from a mini explosion, and her boots were to be scrapped; she was working on making the proper adjustments to her prototype and stuck her hand out expecting the pincers. When nothing came her way, she turned to Tony's direction, only to see him staring right at her.

Tess was startled at first. She didn't understand why he was staring so intently. She lifted her gloved hand to wipe any smudges that she had, not realizing how much more of a mess she made her face. Her big brown eyes stared at him unsure of his staring, but he didn't notice. She leaned closer as he merely took her all in. What was wrong with him?

"Tony?" she said softly, insecurity in her voice.

"You're a mess" he said softly.

She flushed embarrassed at his comment and she threw him a dirty rag in response. It was covered in guck, and dirt and it brought them back to earth. He laughed at her actions and he began to help once more.

"You're not okay are you" she blurted out.

There was no intention to pry much; he spoke so much about everything but she knew little of who he actually was. How could she call him her best friend if she knew so little?

"I don't know what you're talking about" he brushed her off.

"I know you"

"No, no you don't" his voice was tense.

Never once had he used that tone with her; he had done that to Pepper multiple times, brushing her off to make her annoyed, which led to yelling, which led to nothing getting done. She wasn't going to fall for that.

"You're right, I don't, but how come I know something is wrong hm? Are you that transparent, or am I psychic Tony? Hm? You tell me what's wrong!"

"It's nothing you get"

"Tony, please"

"No, you'll tell Pepper and then it will blow out of proportions."

"You know that we're friends right? This isn't related to any business, so why would I tell Pepper?"

He turned to look at her and saw that despite her mess she was being honest. She was a nosy kid, but something in him told him that he actually had no one to tell. His relationship with Pepper was in a grey area that he wasn't quite sure what it meant. She cared for him deeply, but in a totally different way than Tess. Pepper had known him for ten years, and this girl in front of him had no clue of his messups like Pepper did. But she was trustworthy, and loyal to boot.

"I'm sick" he said softly.

"Sick?" her voice was not but a whisper. "what-"

"I'm getting better" he said calmly, "but that's what's making me weird"

When he saw her eyes begin to water and the worry evident, he knew that there was no point in being honest with her, at least not yet. He didn't have the heart to say it aloud because that meant that it was true.

"But you're okay?" she whispered in return.

"Yeah, I'm-" she cut him off by hugging him tightly, mess and all.

"I'm so glad you're okay Tony." She murmured against his shoulder, "you're my best friend and you're an amazing mentor" she didn't realize how his grip tightened on her. "I don't know what my life would be without you teaching me what all this is. I'm so sorry I was pushy I would have never…I…I'm so sorry Tony"

He said nothing but continued to hug her. Had she been less self-centered, she would have noticed his hands trembling at the thought of eminent death. He might have been ignorant in the way that she was very attached to him and it hurt to think he built up this image of himself as untouchable only for her to believe it. She was too naïve for her own good. What only worried him would be disappointing her.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt" Natalie came in the most inopportune time.

At least that's how Tess felt as she wiped her tears feeling flushed. Of course Natalie would come in while she felt so inferior. Pulling away she wiped her face as best she could hoping her frumpy nature wasn't so obvious. The woman was too put together to even be real. She looked up at Natalie who pretended not to interrupt anything. Tony got up, and opened the password protected glass entrance letting the model in. 

"Mr. Stark, the jet is ready for the trip and-"

"Trip?" Tess interrupted the woman to look at Tony confused.

For a brief moment, Tony had no clue what Natalie was talking either, that is until it dawned on him. It seemed that he had gotten his dates confused and the week he had asked Tess to come to Malibu was the same week as the Monaco Grand Prix. As he turned to look at the younger girl, he realized that she was disappointed.

"Oh" was all that he could say.

"You forgot" Tess said dryly. "You made me come this week, Tony, I had some plans you wanted me to finish for your investors this week and you said it could wait because you and I would spend time here" she signaled the work area. She didn't even care that Natalie was hearing everything.

"Yes well…okay so I forgot" he relented, "but it's only for the weekend, and I'll be back. You have this whole place to yourself for three days"

"Myself?" she murmured confused.

Was she not invited to go? Based on his words, apparently she was not. A flush rose on her cheeks ashamed of her just inviting herself to something so fancy. She wasn't like them, and he had no plans to take her.

"Yeah I mean…. you don't like those things, Stark Expo showed me as much. Plus Natalie is used to those places and-"

Tess stopped listening to him them. A feeling of just humiliation rose; he wasn't saying what he wanted to say. Natalie was good for his image; in papers she was the most beautiful arm piece. Not that Tess ever thought of her as such, but the speculations always rose with whomever he was with. And she knew he wouldn't mind if people assumed he was with Natalie. She wasn't meant for his world, she was meant for these kinds of rooms, hard work, mess and just frumpiness.

"-You understand right?"

As he finished rambling, Tess nodded and gave him a half-assed smile. It wasn't the one he was used to; usually her lopsided smiles had a little dimple wherever her lips curled, her eyes would glint and she tilted her head in a cute way. This was definitely one of those first smiles she gave him when she started, an annoyed one.

"You should go Tony, Natalie is waiting for you" she merely replied.

"You're not mad?" he repeated as he picked up his suitcase.

She shook her head.

"I'll be here when you come back"

"Are you-"

"Bye Tony"

That was when he felt as if he had said something wrong. But as Natalie smiled brightly from up the stairs he knew that his Bunny would be fine, after all she was a trooper.

 **….**

Tess found herself bored out of her mind without Tony beside her. As she worked on AIDER, she found herself being childish mumbling under her breath at the thought of Natalie and Tony arm in arm in Monaco.

"Who cares about Monaco, it's not like I wanted to go" she murmured to herself as she got into working the wiring of her robot.

She was glad that only JARVIS was there to see her childish moments. So far the artificial intelligence had been nothing but cordial and had calmed her down when she started kicking things annoyed.

"Miss Holmes are you sure you do not wish to see the Grand Prix?"

"No" she said huffing, "I have to keep working"

The day before she had forced herself not to tear up at the thought of being left alone for something more glamorous. She didn't know why it hurt so much, maybe because it represented the whole situation. Natalie was the glamorous Monaco Grand Prix and she was the workshop with machines and everything covered in oil. She wasn't surprised, Tony enjoyed Natalie more, she was exciting and the gloss of Tess had disappeared.

"Miss Holmes, are you sure you are fine?"

"Yes" she stressed.

Had she even bothered to look at the Grand Prix event, she would have noticed the attack that had occurred against Tony. She would have overly worried over everything and it would have made her realize something was indeed wrong with him.

As night fell in this mansion, Tess found herself laying on the ground doing absolutely nothing. AIDER looked ready for it's first diagnosis and she was so proud of herself. As she pressed the blue button on her little sphere, the robot began to expand to size.

"Good Evening Miss Holmes, how can I be of assistance"

She moved closer to the robot and her eyes brightened realizing that the bright blue "eyes" of the machine leaned forward making eye contact.

"Diagnose me" she asked.

"You are not sleeping well enough, you are also filled with sugars that are bad for your health and as for your weight-"

"Okay that's enough" she blushed.

"It works!"

Clapping brightly she danced around excitedly. This was it, this was her moment and she could not believe that this was happening. She immediately hugged the soft robot and squeaked in excitement.

"Miss are you-"

"You are perfect AIDER, you can now power down"

Following the command, the machine deflated itself back into its steel blue sphere. She knew she was mad at Tony at the moment, but there was no one in the world she wanted to show more than him.

The noise of breaking made her freeze. Was something going on upstairs? Tony wouldn't show up now would he?

"JARVIS?" she asked meekly.

"We seem to have intruders. No worries Miss Holmes, I-"

Before JARVIS could even finish his sentence she heard the stomps of boots coming down the stairs. They didn't want to steal any of Tony's riches per say, they wanted the lab. She rushed towards the door no matter how scared she was, knowing she had to keep it from being opened.

As she rushed to put the security code the large man slammed his hands against the door hoping it would break.

"JARVIS!" she screamed.

"Lock Mode On"

There was nothing that needed to be ordered, as the steel began to fall around the lab it was clear they were not going to get in. They continued banging the doors and the walls hoping to be able to get in. The black eyes that stared at her while the metal shields fell made her shiver. She knew they did not expect anyone to be there.

"The police are on their way, do not worry." JARVIS tried to sooth her. "Here Miss, have some tea and everything will be fine."

The distress must have been obvious as AIDER inflated itself and began to diagnose her once more. She was too scared to even shut off the machine. What was clear was that the machines were her only sort of comfort at the moment. She wished Tony were here.

Had she thought of the bigger picture, she would have realized something bigger was happening. This was not a simply break in, they wanted the suits, they wanted to steal what was Tony's and more importantly they weren't simply robbers.


	5. Birthday Bash

**_Author's Note:_** _Thanks for the follows! This chapter will fast forward a bit throughout the film and hopefully a few chapters we can introduce Steve! Please review!_

 ** _The American Dream_**

 ** _Chapter 5: Birthday Bash_**

 _May 27, 2011_

The feelings of inferiority that Tess had felt had been pushed at the back of her mind as she waited for Tony to come back from Monaco. She waited patiently at the top of his mansion where the helicopter was due to arrive. She had managed to fix everything after the break in and the cops were useless. She and JARVIS decided that it was best to leave it to themselves, there we no longer signs of the break in and there was no need for Tony to stress. After that night, JARVIS had shown her what had happened at the Grand Prix and she had been worried sick. He had convinced her not to call Tony and instead wait patiently. She found herself yelling at the television as people began to question his control.

At the moment all she wanted to do is check Tony over and make sure he was okay.

 **….**

Tony did not want to return to the mansion because in some way it was a reminder that he was dying. It was a horrible realization that no matter what he did, no matter how invincible he was, what had once saved him now was killing him. He felt weaker, he was tired and it was harder to breathe. He knew that thankfully Pepper and Natalie were so engrossed in saving face of the company that they didn't realize how worn he actually was.

The helicopter landed and he got out, already putting on a façade of indifference that is until he saw his little prodigy waiting for them. Her hands where clasped together against her chest excited to see them. As they got out she immediately rushed over to hug Pepper who she had not seen in a while and then greeted Natalie, polite but disinterested. He was about to bring attention to himself that is until she pulled him down into a tight hug. He took a deep breath as he did so and held her tightly. He could feel that she was tense in his embrace but she said nothing instead squeezing the life out of him.

"Missed me?" he wheezed out.

"I am so mad at you," she whispered still not letting go, "you are so lucky you didn't take me there or I would have killed you myself!"

"I missed you too" he muttered squeezing her waist.

He didn't know how long he could keep the façade with Tess. The others had jobs that revolved around the company and she was always shadowing him with things. Perhaps…he could tell her? He wasn't quite sure how to feel, but at the moment he needed to rest.

"Tony, are you okay?" she pulled back worried.

Usually when she got all clingy he would make comments about her wanting him all along. But now there were no comments of that kind, instead it was him simply holding her in return.

"Tired" he murmured, "and sore"

She wrapped her arm around his waist and she took him downstairs as Pepper and Natalie began to discuss what they could say to different media outlets in regards to what happened. Tess didn't care about anything that wasn't Tony at the moment. The business, the industry that was Stark was nothing she cared for, and probably never will.

Letting Tony rest in bed, she noticed just how bad he looked. This was unlike him; no matter how long his night was, no matter how much he kept going, he never looked as worn out as he did now. She sat at the edge of the bed as he began to take off his watch and shoes and merely studied him.

"You're keeping something from us aren't you?" she murmured.

"Not now" he groaned rolling into bed. "I want to sleep"

"Okay grumpy" she said and kissed his forehead, "Tony…if you're ever not 'tired', I'll be waiting to talk okay?"

He said nothing, she took it was a signal to leave, but as she reached the entryway, she heard him murmur "you always are". She smiled and closed the door behind her. She didn't bother going anywhere but downstairs to the lab. Pushing the password, she entered and began to go on Tony's computer trying to find something that could explain his behavior.

"Miss Holmes what are you looking for?" JARVIS asked already knowing what she was doing.

"You know JARVIS, it would save me time if you told me what was wrong with Tony" she answered as she typed away furiously trying to find some clues.

"You know I cannot do that Miss Holmes" JARVIS then turned of all the screens immediately stopping her research.

Tess huffed in annoyance at the unwavering loyalty that an artificial intelligence had for his master. She could try and be pushier but she knew that it would only cause him to kick her out of the lab. Getting up she grabbed her things and went to bed. Tomorrow would be another day to continue her research.

 **…**

 _May 28, 2011_

Tossing and turning all night, Tess had finally allowed herself to go into deep slumber. Tony's health worried her, and his rash decisions made her think something wrong was happening. The first thing she did when waking up was to think about him.

 _'I have to see if he is okay'_ she thought frowning. Throwing the covers off, she rushed to get ready for the day. She wasn't sure exactly what he was planning, but since tomorrow night was his birthday party, she figured that she could help him with whatever he would need.

As she slipped on her shoes and put on her glasses, she walked over to his bedroom. She knew it was only ten am, and for him that meant he was still sleeping. Still, wanting to know how he was feeling , she began her trek to the other side of the mansion. It was wrong how much money Tony had, that was the first thought she had as she walked down the hallway. The walls were aligned of basically his whole accomplishments, his trips, and not one picture surprisingly had his father on it. She knew enough of it now not to even be surprised.

The only thing that did surprise her was the fact that his door was wide open. She knocked on the open door wanting to signal him that she was there, but nothing. It was clear he wasn't in his bedroom.

 _'But what if he fell or something?'_ the anxious part of her brain screamed.

That got her to quickly move into the bedroom and take a look at what was going on. The television was still running, that was the first thing she noticed. Secondly he had not even touched the breakfast that was sent to him. Odd. He always enjoyed TV and a good meal. Frowning, she moved towards his desk to see if maybe something had interrupted his breakfast. Nothing out of the ordinary except…

 _Dr. Brown,_

 _I write to you this letter to highlight a young pupil that has been under my tutelage during the past months. She is young, but definitely a prodigy if I ever saw one. While her experience in theory is lacking, her imagination, her hands-on learning and creativity surely makes up for it._

 _I do not mention her right after my donation to make any statement, other than her resume should be seen. Attached please find her sketches, designs and creations in actions. Her only limitation was lacking the resources, now that she has it in Stark Tower, I find no harm in merely showing the world what she has to offer and more importantly how vital she will be as a member of the elite MIT alum if she is ever to be accepted._

 _I rarely recommend anyone but I assure you that she is worth so much more than just being stuck in the office. Her prospect is-_

"Is he an idiot?!" she screeched.

A part of her felt bad for snooping, but the other part of her was angry at the fact he had gone out of his way of doing this. He was making a choice of letting her go? How dare he? Bribing the school in hopes of getting her in was not how she wanted to go. She loved Tony and Stark Industries dearly and she was thinking that school wouldn't be happening for a few years. Maybe when she got bored of doing the same.

 _'You would never leave Tony'_ her brain said. She knew the moment that he opened the doors to what life could be she had no interest in going to school anymore. She wanted to do what she loved, but under his tutelage and under his business.

Tess tightened the grip on the letter and knew exactly where he was. As she marched down the stairs she didn't even bother to notice that Nathalie was the only person trying to do PR successfully.

As she reached the start of the lab, JARVIS' light popped up signaling her to quiet down. He had never done that before, but she had been told how he worked before from Tony. She knew she should have gone upstairs and respect his privacy.

 _'Who are we kidding?'_ she thought as she began to sneak downstairs.

"Tony what's all of this? Last time I was here with candles was when…well the promotion" Pepper said laughing lightly.

 _'Forced'_ Tess thought immediately as she heard that laugh. It was the politely laugh that Pepper always did when not fully knowing what was going on. She hated surprises and this one seemed to give Pepper a bad feeling.

"I…I wanted to appreciate you. You do so much and you ask for so little" Tony said surprisingly serious.

"Tony….I'm still mad at you for what you did you know" Pepper said softly.

Tess didn't dare pop her head in to see that expression. She could always imagine what look Pepper gave him. It was always a frustrated but loving look; always wondering how someone so utterly and infuriatingly brilliant acted so stupid.

"I know…that's okay" he shrugged. "I can live with that but, I wanted to take this opportunity to just tell you something that I should have always told you but was too stupid to notice"

No response. Tess heard him shuffle slightly and she was holding her breath to hear what he would say.

"Pepper Potts you are an amazing woman: brilliant, caring, responsible, and incredibly loyal. It's almost unfair how perfect you are. And incredibly unfair how blind I've been to not notice how much you mean to me"

Tess covered her mouth keeping in the gasp that would be coming out. Pepper released one though, one that seemed stuck in her throat. She always knew that they had something, from day one that she started and now it seemed to becoming true. She grinned realizing her mentors would be together.

"Ten years Pepper, and I just…"

Silence.

Tess blinked wondering where their conversation went. Slowly she popped her head in only to see him wrapping Pepper in a Hollywood movie kiss. It was perfect; the tilt that he held her, the way she gripped him tightly. She smiled softer biting her lip in amusement. It was about time he realized how much of an idiot he was. It was in those happy thoughts that the unthinkable happened: Pepper slapped Tony.

"How dare you?" she hissed in both embarrassment and anger.

"I thought you-come on Pepper you-"

"No!" she interrupted him. "You're right. Ten years. TEN YEARS! I've been waiting for you to realize how much I care about you."

"I know it took a while but I always knew I just never-"

"I want us to live for each other" he said softly, confusion clear in his intonation.

"Tony…I've been living for you for so long I had stopped living for myself. You know I have a boyfriend? Brian is a good guy, amazingly sweet and stable. More importantly he lives for me. I am his center, not some superhero vigilante that you want to be!"

"Pepper"

"You're late Tony! I-I can't even look at you right now"

The footsteps were heavy and Tess began to panic at the thought of being caught. But no matter how she tried to hide, Pepper saw her immediately as she slammed the lab door closed and began to go up. She stopped for a second to stare at the younger girl before blinking back tears only to continue up the stairs. Once more the door slammed and Tess was swallowed in darkness.

She hugged the recommendation letter tightly against her chest and took a deep breath. She felt for Tony; to love someone and only for it to be too late. He was so incredibly self-centered sometimes, she knew that, but it didn't mean he deserved heartbreak. She knew she had to pretend she heard nothing; she forced a smile on her face and crumpled the letter. There was no need to bring that up, instead she knew she had to distract him.

She began to go down the stairs loudly making sure he heard her. Inputting the code on the entrance she pushed the door and pretended not to notice him trying to blink back his own tears of embarrassment. Tony stared at the screen intently; it would have worked had it not been the code that he had solved last week.

"Tony?"

"What's up kid?"

He didn't turn yet; she knew that he was slowly building a wall between his emotions and his persona. She waited patiently knowing that she didn't dare break him at this moment.

"Are you feeling okay?"

It was then Tony turned. His smile was bright, but his eyes…they were so dim. The charisma was forced; his stance screamed bravado but his eyes showed nothing but disappointment. Her thoughts must have shown clear as he slowly broke in front of her.

"How much did you hear?" His voice tight, anger being held back.

"I…" she hugged herself tightly looking at him guiltily. She had seen him get rejected; which was a rare occurrence but never had it once meant so much. "I'm _so_ sorry Tony"

She felt so guilty for listening, for not being able to pretend that nothing had happened. Of course she wore her heart on her sleeve; it was the only way she was and she truly felt for him.

"Have you ever been in love?" he asked suddenly as he sat in his chair.

She slowly sat on the counter as she looked at him. They were purposely away from each other. She would not move forward to comfort him; he did not want that. He wanted to forget it ever happened, and if she wasn't good at faking it, he would do it well enough for both of them. Though for a good second she seemed taken aback at his question. Why would he ask that if she had a boyfriend? Her expression must have said enough because he reworded his question.

"Are you done looking? Is he the one?"

She must have looked like a fish as she gaped as his question. She knew she should have immediately said that _yes_ , he was it. He was intelligent, charming, a go-getter and had a good head on his shoulders. They were perfect for each other…people told them all the time. But…why was it so hard to answer that?

"I….yes" she said after a while.

Thankfully he didn't dwell at her clear confusion. But he seemed to be lost in thought once more. His arms were crossed and he stared at seemingly nothing. His body languages screamed relaxed, but his face showed him to be deep in thought.

"If you were to die tomorrow, would he be the one you'd want to be with? Would he be the very last person you would want to see before you die? The very last face you saw?"

She furrowed her brow clearly thinking this out. Tess never really thought about death; it was probably because she was so young. She was a bit embarrassed at the deep questions that he had only for her to give him nothing in return. She wanted to give him something that would be fitting at this moment, something real. And if he didn't want to be honest to her, she would be honest for the both of them.

"I love Ben…at least I think I do. He is good for me…for now. The only love I know that is to be true is what I see with my grandparents. You know every morning they follow the same routine. She makes them breakfast with the same radio stations playing their music. While she does that he reads the news out loud informing her about what is going on and makes his opinions clear. She goes along with it and tells him that his clothes are laid out to him on their bed. He then gets dressed, kisses her cheek as she hands him his lunch. They always say I love you before separating. She stays home to take care of the place, cleaning it and all that; he works, and comes back all dirty. He comes home everyday at 7pm always complaining about the traffic. She hums in agreement and he goes to shower as she sets him dinner. Then they dine together; just the two of them talking about the day. He takes so much interest in the things she does even if it's just about the neighborhood gossip. And she…" she laughed, "She pretends to understand what he's talking about when he starts speaking car lingo. Then they both change to their pajamas and curl up and watch the news. Once the eleven o'clock news end they go to bed and lay together once more. This has happened every day for the past forty years"

She had never spoken so much about something she noticed every day, and he…well Tony had never been so quiet for so long.

"You want that for forty years? Do all women want that?" he said after a bit.

Tess laughed and shook her head.

"Not necessarily. I want a love…"she blushed embarrassed about what she was about to admit. "I want a love that grows with me. I want a love that lets me be my own person and yet doesn't hurt the other. I want someone who supports my passions even if they don't get it.." She shook her head. "I want someone that doesn't judge me for what I do and instead tries to get it. Hell he doesn't have to know all about technology like I do, but that tries. And a person that challenges me balances me out and helps me grow. I don't want someone to die for me…I want someone to live _with_ me."

"Ben doesn't do that?"

"Does Pepper?" she blurted out, then immediately feeling like an awful human being.

"Yes" he replied quietly surprising the both of them.

"No" Tess said after a while making him turn to face her. "He doesn't really get what I love and he doesn't try to. But…but I'm happy for now. Maybe he'll be the one, maybe he won't. Who knows?"

"That doesn't bother you?"

"No…I mean, we aren't married you know? I've known him for my whole life, maybe that's why that's how I see it? I don't know…I'm not good with this."

"Me either" he admitted. "I screwed it up"

"No…I mean…this isn't your last chance" she said lightly. "You have the rest of your life to just….win her over."

"She would be the last person I would want to see before I die" he said quietly.

"You will" she grinned not knowing the connotation in which he said it.

They spent the rest of the night working on projects that they had started but never finished. The topic about love was never brought up again and it was for the better. Both were thinking about the love that they described. Tess didn't want to admit that she had never thought how unfulfilling her relationship was and in turn Tony never realized how much Pepper completed him.

Slowly the two working together turned into her trying to fix the new robotic arm on a suit while Tony rested. She knew that something was wrong with him; something far more serious than the heartbreak. She assumed it was the accident with that freak with tentacles. She still couldn't believe someone tried to do that. Their silence was only interrupted by Rhodes coming in, angrily telling Tony to give the suit to the government. She was signaled to leave immediately as their conversation grew in volume. She did so out of respect for Tony, but not before glaring at the government agent.

 **…**

 _May 29, 2011_

Tess had not seen Tony all day and it had started to worry her a bit. Ever since Rhodes had walked in and they had their argument, Tony had locked himself in his room and wished to be left alone. She hadn't bothered to go to his room; she knew that he needed his privacy after a heavy day. She did however give Rhodes a piece of her mind as he was leaving.

 _'Puppet of the government, has no sympathy for his supposedly best friend_ ' Tess thought as she was getting dressed.

The rest of the day had been Nathalie giving her a reason why Tony was unavailable. First was that he was making sure the caterer had the food that he had wanted for his party and that it tasted good. Next was the liquor in which he wanted to sample before anything. Next was the guest list and so on and so forth. It annoyed her at how once he had not given a shit about things, now it was all super important.

Fine. If he wanted to do this he could, after all it was his birthday. She was sent to change as the sun had set and the guests were already coming in. She had decided on a wine red sweetheart neckline dress that flared out comfortably in a way that screamed 'young' but not 'childish'. She knew what kind of dresses the other women would wear but she wasn't like that. Her makeup always made her feel like she could be a grown up in this weird circle of people that Tony surrounded himself with.

 _"Miss Holmes, the party has begun. Mr. Stark will be going downstairs shortly, perhaps you should head there before he does?"_

"You're right JARVIS" Tess replied as she wiped off the excess lipstick. "Is Pepper here already?"

" _Miss Potts will not be attending. She said and I quote 'Something came up'"_

"Hmm…how unfortunate"

She left it at that as she headed downstairs for the party to begin.

 **….**

Tess never quite knew what to expect from a 41st birthday bash, but this was crazy. The party had started from a regular, albeit glamorous birthday bash, to one that slowly showed how Tony decided to spend his night: Drinking. She knew he always enjoyed liquor but she had never seen him drink so much in one night. She had nursed the glass of champagne all night, sipping on it occasionally hoping that Pepper would appear and everything would be okay. She knew he was drinking from disappointment.

But as more women hung themselves on his arms and showed him a good time, she knew he would soon forget. It was sometimes disappointing how Tony could be. She shook her head and decided to down the whole glass. If she was going to spend the night seeing his happen she should be drinking. She swore it had been two hours in before things began to get a bit crazier.

For one thing Tony was now wearing his suit. When she had asked him what he was thinking he had told her "I'm the birthday boy, and I can wear what I want." Before she could rebuttal, he had kissed her cheek and had been dragged off by some woman wanting to show him something.

As "California Love" began to play and Tony was getting rowdier, Tess grew tense. This was not something she knew how to handle. Where was Pepper? She looked around wondering what she could do. She saw Happy Hogan and almost asked him to help her, that is had it not been that he too had been surrounded by women.

"How's it going?"

Turning around she saw Rhodes looking at her curiously. She did not know if he was already judging what was going on but she could imagine what he thought. Something in her told him to be honest and she found herself uttering:

"I need help, I don't know how to handle this"

As soon as she said this a crash occurred as Tony leaned too heavy on the bar. The weight of his suit had crushed it and he kept wobbling. She was so disappointed in him. Her disappointment was clear, especially as Rhodes began to curse.

"I'm getting reinforcements"

"What? No!" She grabbed his arm tightly and dug her nails in. "You are _not_ bringing government officials here!"

"Then what do we do? That man is wearing a very dangerous suit. I stuck out my neck for him saying that he could be trusted and look at him! He is nothing but a drunken fool in a highly dangerous suit."

"I can handle it," she said not even believing her own lie.

 _"I bet people wonder…Tony how do you pee in this suit…. like this"_

"Forget it I'm-"

"I can do it! I'll take care of it!"

In this moment Tess knew she was way over her head. She was angry with Pepper for not being there and she was frustrated that Nathalie was no where to be found. She took a deep breath before stepping on the stage and taking the microphone from her boss.

"And thank you for that" she said her voice shook. "Aren't we having a good time?"

The crowed cheered and she felt her stomach turn.

"Now sadly, it's time to go home"

The awws and boos began to ring through the group of people. One of those people was Tony himself.

"But we haven't cut the cake"

She pulled the microphone away from him and kept it against her back as he leaned towards her. His breath reeked of alcohol and she gagged briefly as it surrounded her. She didn't know if he was leaning in hoping for a kiss or trying to hold on to something before he fell over.

"Tony this is enough, tell them to go home"

"Okay okay…." He relented.

She sighed in relief for a good minute that is until he continued to talk.

"Tess Holmes everybody" he slurred, "now she's right the party is over…though the party was over for me an hour ago. _Now_ the after party…."

The crowd began to cheer.

"And if anyone doesn't like it" she swore she heard him mumble her name, "there's the door-"

An explosion rang as he accidentally sent out a mini missal that hit the glass. Tess screamed and covered her ears as the party guests cheered even louder. Tony in turn got rowdier. Tess didn't even notice when Rhodes had disappeared. She was too busy begging Tony to stop.

"Tony Stop! Please you're drunk you don't know what you're doing!"

"You're throwing my aim off Bunny" Tony said impatiently as he aimed at a champagne bottle in the air.

"No!" she winced as another one exploded.

"Stop!"

"Tony no!"

Her screamed of protests weren't being heard as the crowd got louder and Tony was once more the center of attention. She had never witnessed him this out of control and she felt herself begin to tear up in frustration. She knew he shouldn't be doing this, and she knew the repercussions would not be pretty.

"I am going to say this one….GET OUT" everyone jumped as Rhodes walked in, in the silver Iron Man Suit they had just built.

Everyone thankfully did as they were told and Tess stood there hugging herself as the watermelon juice dripped from her because of the explosion.

"You don't deserve to wear one of these. Shut it down, NOW"

Then the fighting began. Tess yelled at them to stop only for the fighting began to break out between the two and they flew into the house.

"Shit!"

She took out her phone desperately dialing for Pepper to answer. "Please, please, please, please please…" she begged only to get voicemail once more. "Pepper please answer me, a fight broke out! Rhodes… Tony…oh god Tony is so drunk I-" the machine cut her off. As fast as she could she ran up the stairs pushing through people that were trying to see the fight.

"Get out! Go home! Nothing to see here!"

But they ignored her.

"Miss Holmes!"

She glared seeing Nathalie running towards her. Where the hell was she when she needed her?

"You! You kept him away from me all day. What did you tell him? Why is he being so-"

Another explosion as they fell into the third floor She screamed as she found herself in between their fight. Happy Hogan pulled her as much as he could from it before it escalated. She was in tears as she saw them shoot at one another. She begged for Happy to get the people out and he began to do so with Nathalie who was finally able to make herself useful.

It was the moment that she turned to see people leaving when a bright light shined behind her. Before she could even realize what was happening, shards of glass began to fly towards her and the explosion happened. Then everything went dark.


	6. Broken

**_Author's Note:_** _Thanks for the follows! This chapter will fast forward a bit throughout the film and hopefully a few chapters we can introduce Steve! Please review!_

 ** _The American Dream_**

 ** _Chapter 6: Broken_**

 ** _May 30, 2016_**

 _"Don't move her too quickly!"_

 _"Is she breathing?"_

 _"She won't be if we don't hurry"_

 _"Thirty minute search under rubble for one little thing?"_

"I am interested in knowing how your judgment surpasses my orders?"

"I am sorry Ms. Romanov, I-I didn't know-"

"And you never do, do you Richardson? Finish your job and get out of my sight."

As they lifted the limp body from the rubble, Natasha stared intently at the victim. She didn't particularly like the girl, and lord knows the girl did not like her back, but she did feel bad about her once she heard about the destruction. And the lack of any person employed by Tony Stark said more than words could. The young girl looked so pale, her body laid on the stretcher with no sign of movement. Her face was covered in dirt and the dress that might have been nice the night before, was now ripped to shreds. Natasha covered her with a blanket, unwilling to cover her face.

Thankfully these men had seen worse, and they weren't just any EMT. As they moved the girl into the nameless van, Natasha climbed into the luxury car and they took off.

 _…_

The first thing she uttered was a groan of pain. Tess felt like she had been run over by an eighteen-wheeler, especially as she tried to lift her head. Another groan. _'What happened?'_ She tried to really think about what had happened that caused her such pain. But as she mulled it over, something hit her again. _'Where the hell am I?'_ She tensed even more (if that was possible) once she realized she did not recognize the bed. This was not her bed at home, and this was not the bed in the Malibu mansion. That question forced her to open her eyes: slowly. They felt so heavy, why was it so hard? Blinking a few times, she finally realized that she was not where she expected.

The room was white; no one else was with her. The bed was a white mattress, a white blanket and a fluffy pillow. There was no noise on the other side of the door that she faced. She gripped the blanket tighter as she looked both directions knowing something wasn't right.

The door clicked open, and she immediately turned to face the newcomer only to wince at how much that hurt. The woman was tall, thin and had a friendly look on her face. She had brown eyes, her brown hair was pinned back and a pair of smartly shaped glasses.

"How are you feeling Ms. Holmes?"

"Fine"

Her answer was short because she knew something was wrong …very wrong. For one thing the woman's coat was too loose, and her nails were manicured; no doctor had the opportunity to have them done with their work, it would not be sanitary. Thirdly, she hadn't checked her vitals at the moment, instead told her exactly what was wrong with her from the clipboard.

She wondered if she could get up. Tess slowly shifted her legs tensing to see if she could move them. She could, but it hurt…really hurt. She tried to mask the wince, but her doctor didn't seem to notice. She moved her ankles back and forth hoping to pinpoint if she was able to run.

"Do you have any questions?" her doctor asked.

"Where is my family?" she asked curiously.

That seemed to take the woman back and mumbled something about being a Jane Doe. That set something running in her mind. _'You called me Miss Holmes, how am I a Jane Doe?'_

"I see…may I rest?"

"Of course"

As the woman left, Tess tensed as she noticed that the door clicked. Locked in. At a normal hospital they would never be so daring to do that. The wheels in her head were turning at ways to get out.

"Forget it" she murmured.

The longer she stayed the more dangerous it seemed. Throwing the blankets to the side, she slowly turned her body to have her feet hanging over the bed. Slowly she placed her feet down and felt a chill run up her body at the cold laminated floor.

"Come on" she hissed.

Pushing herself up she wobbled and felt her legs give out. _Thump_. She groaned in pain as she lay on the unforgiving floor. She had no one to help her. _'You rely on too many people'_ her mind responded. And it was true. Where was Tony? Where was Benjamin? Where was her family? Not here was the right answer. Wobbling up, she realized that the hospital gown would do and she slowly walked to the door.

She gripped the door knowing it was already locked. She looked around and tried to think of how to unlock it. Breaking the door was not possible and would create too much of a noise. Slowly she grabbed one of the needles that was once in her and she tugged it. This would do to pick the lock, she thought smiling.

As a successful click occurred, she knew that this would be it; she would have to run. Bending down a few times to get her strength she knew silence would be her best friend. Running might only happen if necessary. Popping her head out she knew this was _not_ a hospital. On the other side of the door was an office. A empty metal floor that showed more industrialization that any of Tony's rooms. It was too quiet.

"Risk it" she swore she heard Tony say.

Tess knew that she had to get out. Her bare feet touched the cold metal floor and rushed as quickly as possible, paying attention to anything that could come her way. When she reached the end of the hall she noticed that there were two ways to go. She stopped and went over anything. Before she could make a decision, a noise on her left made her turn.

She saw a man walking in with what seemed to be a construction outfit, only to come out a few minutes in a nicely tailored suit and a pair of sunglasses. A Bathroom? No one could change so quickly. As he kept walking that direction she knew she had to see what was in there. Perhaps it was curiosity; perhaps it was the fact that she needed to see if that would help her. Who cared? Rushing towards the door she thanked whatever lord was going to help her, as it was unlocked. Locking it behind her she took a few breaths before actually taking her new surroundings in.

A change of outfits…she wasn't quite sure where she was now, but if she was abducted by aliens, that would be less weird. She saw that there were outfits all over, suits, suits and more suits. She found a man's shirt that seemed good enough to change into. Buttoning the shirt down she knew it would have to do. She heard noises and the doorknob trying to turn. As they began to shake the door, she saw the laundry shoot and knew she would have to pull it.

Sliding down the chute she bit back a scream as she fell into a pile of disgusting clothes. She groaned in pain at how her bruises were throbbing and her bones ached. This was it, she wasn't moving. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to remember what happened. What was the last thing she remembered?

She remembered the birthday party; it was crazy, hectic and overall a big mess as Tony was completely sloshed trying to keep the party going. She remembered begging, she then remembered crying, so much crying. And then….that's when it hit her. The light.

 _'That light wasn't just any light and you know it'_

It was then Tess remembered that all of this occurred because of Tony's drunkenness. She remembered feeling a great gust of wind that shook everything then a great pain on her back then….

"Darkness" she whispered aloud.

After that she could not imagine where she would exactly be. She needed to get out of here. She rolled slowly forcing her body to keep pushing and not give out. As she rolled off the cart, she didn't even bother trying to get up. She huffed in pain as she felt her ribs ache more. Pain was the last thing that she needed to prioritize. She needed access to a phone, and something to take her home. She knew she needed to simply find a vehicle moving out, like in the movies and then try to run at the best moment.

Crouching, she began to move slowly towards the vans she assumed left with these clothes in an undisclosed location. Was there anything that could help her?

 _Wake her up._

She looked around wide-eyed as she swore she heard a voice. But there was no one there; she knew no one was there. She popped her head our slowly hoping to see if someone was talking. No one. She could hear her heart beating against her ears.

 _Her heart rate is too quick. Wake her up._

She swore she heard it that time, and just as the phrase finished, she felt tightness in her chest. She let out a gasp and gripped her chest. Since when was breathing so hard?

 _Quickly she could go into cardiac arrest. Johnson! Are you listening to me? Her body is heating up._

It was then Tess' legs gave out and she toppled over. Whatever strength was once in her body was now out. She threw her head back on the ground and she began to gasp for air. Her heart was beating too fast until, it hiccupped; the shakes began. Her eyes began to water as she convulsed on the cold floor of the garage.

 _Her heart is giving out! WAKE HER UP NOW!_

The last thing she remembered was a bright light before everything went dark once more.

 **…**

It was moments like these where Natasha wondered how a conscious could exist after all this time. In their experiment, they wanted to test how her brain worked, and how she would get out of the so-called room. And despite knowing the risk, they had allowed her to continue to push herself; even in the virtual world it took the same amount of strength as reality. Her heart had given out. As they resuscitated the girl, Natasha wondered how this would work in their plan.

 _"Who knew right?"_ the voice told her.

"How is she?"

 _"Now you care?"_

"She's important for the plan…now answer my question."

 _"She will wake soon, I figured you would want to see her?"_

"Would she want to see me?"

 _"Well…she knows no one else."_

She turned and walked out of the office and towards the 'hospital room'. There was the young girl looking sicker than before. There was a layer of sweat on her face, her skin pale and more needles in her body than before. The small wires were still attached to her temples. She sat at the chair, waiting for Tess to awake.

Right on time, a groan was emitted from Tess and she slowly opened her eyes. Once more she briefly replayed everything that occurred before she groaned louder realizing she was back to square one. Turning around, she realized she was not alone, Natasha was there staring at her.

"Natalie?"

"You're awake good" she said and got up only to sit closer.

Tess merely stared at her, and realized this was not the same woman that she had previously interacted with. For one thing, she wore all black and her demeanor was completely different than when she played Tony's assistant. She tensed thinking about Tony.

"Where is he?"

"Who?"

"Tony, does he know where I am? Where….where am I?"

"Everything will be explained…if you let me"

 **…**

Tess sat in the luxury vehicle as "Natasha", (if that was even her real name) went to check the perimeter. She leaned back on the seat as she saw the man that called himself Nick Fury sit across from her with no intention to talk. She had explained everything….they wanted Tony to join their organization. They spoke about the world being in danger, about how they needed people like Tony to protect the inhabitants. This was all too much, especially when they spoke about their plan. She suspected there was more than what they told her, but even a simple-minded person understood that. She was caught as bait, and the more they explained the night before and her job now….well she would have rather be left under the rubble.

"He's outside. You know what do so…"

So he finally spoke to her. She turned away to look at the donut shop. _'Figures he'd be getting a donut'_ she thought. She heard him clear his throat and she then turned to look at the man once more.

"You're up"

"Why should I do what you tell me? You're not my boss."

He grinned at her gall and merely leaned closer.

"Not _yet"_ he said pretty sure of himself. "But from what I know, you want him safe and you know that he should be taking responsibility."

"Fuck off" she snapped before getting out of the car and slamming the door behind her.

She was already wearing clothes that weren't in her comfort zone and now she was playing a pawn in a larger game. Figures. The body suit seemed like a bit much, especially since she looked like a cheap version of Natasha. The zipper didn't slide all the way up like she liked. Seemed completely impractical. Still….as she walked towards the large donut, she felt the thoughts of the outfit go away as she saw the man she once admired just casually eating a donut at the top of the sign.

Taking a deep breath, she found herself finding out that did not work, as she began to shake in anger.

"TONY STARK GET DOWN HERE!"

 **…..**

Tony Stark was spectacularly hungover. When he had woken up at the top of a random cliff by the beach he knew something had gone bad. He had not bothered to go to his mansion, and he had thrown his phone down a cliff not wanting to have anyone call him. He refused to acknowledge the real world…so he went to get donuts.

 _'TONY STARK GET DOWN HERE!"_

Well he knew that voice well enough, the grip on his donut loosened and fell back into the box. Looking down to the street he noticed his little prodigy looking up at him furiously. Her hands on her hip and wearing a spectacularly inappropriate outfit, he opened his mouth to say something that is until he realized his sweet words would probably not work.

"I like your-"

"Shut up and get down here. I'll wait inside"

She didn't bother to say anything else, and he found himself following her like a puppy. She looked different, apart from her outfit. She was walking differently…slower, a slight limp on her right side, her hip perhaps? The night was blurry and he couldn't help but think if this was his fault.

"Will you at least look at me?" he asked as he reached her.

She shook her head and he grabbed her arm, only to earn a wince from her. A hiss was let out of her mouth and he found himself letting go only to hop in front of her. It was then he noticed that despite how cute she looked in the body suit, she also looked extremely tired and bruised.

"Bunny what happened?"

He saw her gaze soften as she heard his pet name for her. He placed his hand under her chin and softly turned it to get a good look at her. She was paler than usual, and weaker as well. Her chin wobbled and he really took her in. Putting the outfit aside, he noticed she had a tight wrap going around her chest. Something had gone wrong and he wasn't there.

"What-"

"I'm glad you've decided to join us"

Tony turned to look at Nick Fury once more and to realize that he was not alone…oh no. Natalie was there, and wearing the same outfit as his Bunny. Had they done something to her?

"You are so fired" he told Natalie only to earn a smirk to her.

He grabbed Tess' hand and slid to the booth across from the other pair. Tess sat beside him not saying a word, instead taking in everything that would happen.

"I told you I am _not_ joining your super secret boyband got it?" And continued to take another bite of his donut.

Nick Fury laughed and took a sip of his coffee.

"Riight…I remember you do everything yourself right? How's it working out for you?"

"I..it's…I..I'm sorry, I don't want to get off on the wrong foot. Do I stare at the patch or the eye?" Tess shoved him slightly not the bit amused by his rudeness. Nonetheless he continued. "I'm sorry, I'm a bit hungover I don't even know if this is real or imaginary…"

"I am very real, I'm the realest person you will ever meet."

"Right…well" he turned to face Natasha. "You're still fired."

"That's not up to you" Natasha replied.

"Meet Agent Romanov" Nick began.

"I was assigned to infiltrate and become your assistant to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary" she explained.

"I still don't like you" Tony replied.

"Back to the point Tony" Nick interrupted them, "You gave your girl the CEO position, you gave away all your things. You let your best friend ride off with your suit…Now if I didn't know better."

"You don't know better" Tony interrupted. "I didn't let him take the suit, he took it."

"Woah, you're Iron Man and he took it? Forget that fine, he took it, what about that little girl next to you-"

"I am _not_ a little girl!" Tess snapped.

"What about her?" Tony snarled in return.

"You tell me nothing is wrong but he took your suit and you hurt this little thing? Not to mention how much like shit you look. I mean those lines…"

"I am not a-" she began but something caught her attention. The blue lines on Tony's neck…he was lying to her. Her eyes flashed in anger.

"I would never hurt her. And he is an authorized user now what do you need from me?"

"You did hurt me Tony.." Tess replied before Nick would jump in. "You're stupid fight with Rhodes nearly killed me." She refused to look at him. "The explosion was enough to go into cardiac arrest…twice, and now you want to not be blamed for anything?" she placed her hand on her chest and looked away. "You need to listen to him…to them."

Tony said nothing instead stared ahead. He gritted his teeth and refused to do anything as Nick began to rant at him for his newfound problems.

"You're dying Tony" she whispered.

Natasha put a needle against his neck and he twitched. Tess merely flinched and did nothing feeling useless in all of this.

"Lithium Dioxide….it should calm down the symptoms" Natasha explained.

"It's not gonna be an easy to fix this" Nick added.

"I am looking for a cure. I-"

"You _lied_ to me" Tess hissed before sliding from the counter and walking off.

"Tess"

"No!" she turned, "You stay there and you listen to them. I am tired of taking care of your ass when you promised me you'd look out for mine. Now I have to go take my medication…I'll be in the car"

She didn't bother looking back as she pushed the door open with force and walked out before she did something even more irrational. As she slid into the car and realized she was alone she began to cry. Tony was many things and he had always been a handful, but never to this degree. He prided himself in promising her that he would never lie to her, but he had taken so many things from her. He had given her so many dreams and possibilities and she had forgotten to keep her feet firmly planted on the floor. All the dreams always came with a dark side and despite how he tried to keep it from her it was clear he was not okay. She should have seen the symptoms. All this time, he had told her that he had fixed himself, but from the veins popping out it was clear that what was keeping him alive was killing him. His spiral and fear of dying had nearly led her to her own death.

She covered her face and took a deep breath. Her heart was weak now…and the cure wasn't really known. She had lost a part of her now that much was clear. They had told her that she would be taking a few experimental drugs until they would tell her to stop. The door opened and she turned to see Natasha sliding across from her.

"I wanted to be alone" she hiccupped embarrassed to be caught crying.

"I figured you would need your medication" Natasha explained as she handed her a tube filled with five different shaped pills, a bottle of water and a strap for her arm.

Tess took the items and took the pills without thinking much of it. The S.H.I.E.L.D. doctor had explained to her that each one would not only keep her heart in normal beat, but would help her body heal faster than she normally would. The next part always did hurt. Zipping her suit down, she ignored the fact that Natasha was beside her, she did prefer her over anyone at the moment. She slid the top of the body suit off and gave Natasha her arm for her to strap. As the wrap tightened around her arm, she saw the vein pop out and immediately looked away.

Methodically Natasha slid the needle in the main vein before slipping the medication into her system.

"You never told me what this is for?"

"For your protection, trust me."

"You put me into cardiac arrest last time I was part of an experiment" Tess murmured.

"True" Natasha began, "But I also saved your life and got you out of your first cardiac arrest."

"Does that just cancel out?" she asked amused.

"Yes" Natasha had conviction in her tone. "Now, this is experimental and we don't know the true side effects, but it will make you stronger less of a…" she drifted off.

"A hindrance?" Tess finished the sentence. "I figured. It doesn't matter, I won't be a part of this for long…"

"You don't seem to understand your place in this do you?" Natasha asked genuinely surprised. "The moment you accepted his friendship and he brought you into this world, you would never be able to leave."

"I can leave any time I want"

"No…now that we know who you are, you are no longer just a mere civilian." Natasha grabbed her hand and squeezed, "Understand that."

Before Tess would say anything else, the door opened and more people stepped in. Nick Fury thankfully sat in the front and gave her some privacy. Tess frantically began to try and cover herself, but as Tony entered she knew it was pointless. She felt her face heat up in shame of being seen like this.

Tony really took her in then. She had bruises in her arm, her breasts wrapped under a tight hospital band and a thin line was in the middle of her chest. An operation? He wanted to yell and learn more, but he knew that it was his fault. He saw the tube of pills now emptied out and saw the needle that was beside Natasha.

This was more than a mere cardiac arrest. He helped her then cover up, sliding her hands in the suit delicately. She didn't fight him and she let him zip her up. Natasha said nothing but watched the two of them interact. She heard Tess murmur a thank you before he stopped touching her. The last thing she saw was Tony reaching for the young girl's hand.

Something had been broken, that much was clear, but mendable. But to think that Tess Holmes was out of this business…that was far from the truth; the girl was deeper than she suspected, and that would either bring her triumph or her death. Natasha knew to well how things like that happened. She didn't have much weight in the mind of the girl, but she would be damned if she had a damsel come into S.H.I.E.L.D. All that she needed to grow was the medication and some lessons, Natasha was sure of it.


	7. No Superhero

**_Author's Note:_** _Thanks for the follows! This chapter will fast forward and finish the film only for us to move forward to the best part. Please review!_

 ** _The American Dream_**

 ** _Chapter 7: No Superhero_**

Tess knew something was wrong in Tony, the man she had once admired looked surprisingly downtrodden over all of this. He said nothing, but the way he gripped her hand was enough to tell her what he meant. He knew that he had messed up, but in his way of thinking, he unsurprisingly forgot to think about someone other than himself. He was so selfish, yet Tess loved her best friend still. In a world that only looked at his successes, very few saw him like she saw him now. He looked older than he was and as his thumb ran on the top of her hand was enough for her to know he was sorry.

"It's okay" she whispered softly, knowing that Natasha was in the back with them pretending to find her phone outstandingly interested.

"No it's not" Tony murmured in return. "It was bad wasn't it? All of…"

"My heart stopping?" she replied somewhat amused. "You talked big talk about stopping girls in their path, but that was unnecessary.

The joke fell flat as he looked even paler than before. Tess frowned and tightened her grip on his hand.

"Tony….you weren't the only one there" she paused, "you were drunk, but _he_ wasn't. Both of you lost control and it was….it was scary. But the first cardiac arrest wasn't something I felt. I just" she looked out the window. "I just saw a bright light of the explosion and everything went dark."

"The first one?"

She simply nodded. "The second one…"she looked at Natasha, "was part of an experiment, I remember trying to escape only for convulsing to happen. I-I'm not sure what happened, but something happened up here" she placed her left hand on her temple. "I know something short circuited before my body wouldn't start shaking. _That_ was scary and you weren't there."

He opened his mouth to say something, but could not find the words. He knew that he should have been there, but what he could not admit was that had he _not_ gotten that drunk, he could have avoided everything that occurred to his cheerleader. The girl was a dreamer and he was crushing every belief she had in him.

"It's okay that you weren't there…it wouldn't have made a difference. Now…it's just you and them and-"

"We're here" Natasha interrupted and got out before the conversation grew. She was clearly ushering them out to the now destroyed Malibu home.

Tess looked wide-eyed taking the now destroyed living room. The glass windows were smithereens and the walls…she walked towards the wall that was turned over. She felt a pain down her back in realization of what that was…that was the wall that both protected her from falling but also nearly crushed her.

"It was here wasn't it" she asked aloud.

"Yes" Natasha replied walking closer.

"I suppose I should thank you for saving my life."

"Perhaps…now come along"

"What?"

Before Tess could ask what was going on, Natasha turned her arm and pressed it behind her back making the younger girl groan. Tony protested only for Nick Fury to tell him his responsibility. Solve Howard Stark's plan and make it work. He could do without distractions and…

"If we keep her, you'll surely not think about leaving the perimeter" Fury finished explaining. "Now Agent Coulson will make sure that you do that. Come along kids"

As they dragged Tess away, she found herself not arguing. She knew that this was the best, and knew that Tony sometimes worked best when alone. She would neither be a hindrance of an advantage.

 **….**

As they pulled her away, Tess didn't even attempt to struggle; she was not going to give Natasha the pleasure of using force with her. She huffed as she shoved her in the vehicle and slammed the door behind her.

"Where are we going?"

"You're going to sleep..."

Before Tess could question what she meant, Natasha raised the divider in the car only for a gas to come into the back seat. She felt a wave of nausea hit her and swayed before she passed out. That caused Natasha to laugh something that came rare to her. She shook her head; she wasn't quite sure what Nick and Coulson had in mind but she wasn't going to ask.

….

Tess groaned. How come she always ended up in S.H.I.E.L.D with pain all over her body? As she lifted her head, she felt her head pounding and lifted her left hand to try and soothe the stinging sensation. She felt as if water had gone up her nose and the burning wasn't going away. As she tried to get her bearings she noticed Fury there waiting for her to notice her surroundings. Once she saw him she tensed up and was already defensive.

"Good, you're awake!" Fury called out from above.

Tess struggled to get up and ignored the shaking in her body, she knew that was not from weakness but from a need. She scratched her arm and forced herself to stop. She did not notice his expression as he saw her scratch.

 _'That was not what the medicine is supposed to do…will check the vitals later'_ Fury thought to himself.

"What am I doing here?"

"You know, your past work is impressive. It's... rare that a woman your age has such a grasp of...inventing."

She crossed her arms wondering how much was an actual compliment and how much were they patronizing her? Her expression hid her thoughts as best she could.

"Are...are you saying 'I'm good at science for a girl?' Or what?"

"Take it as you want, but my point is, Tony isn't the only one that knows your potential"

He began to pace around her and she followed him with her gaze warily. She knew he had no good intentions...well other than having Tony save the world. It was at this moment she realized that good and bad weren't so clear. She shifted uncomfortably at the thought as to what side she was on.

"Are you just saying that so I forgive all the shit your people did to me?"

Nick Fury actually laughed at her spunky comment. He wasn't sure exactly what to expect from her but this wasn't it. At least based on her profile on file it was not a normal nor expected comment.

"No, I'm saying that we've been keeping an eye on you _before_ Tony"

Before she could start asking questions, pictures of her began to sprout around the two of them. Beside the most current picture (which was taken from the Stark Tower files) showed her smiling brightly. Beside her image were facts about her:

 _Name: Tess Marie Holmes_

 _Age: 20_

 _Occupation: Inventor_

 _IQ: Unknown_

 _Alias: "Bunny"_

Tess wrinkled her nose at the alias, not liking it one bit. Will that nickname ever leave her? Her eyes kept scrolling.

 _Affiliation: Anthony Stark / Iron Man_

 _Identity: Publically Known_

 _Citizenship: United States of America_

 _Place of Birth: Los Angeles, CA_

 _Known Relatives: Unimportant_

 _Abilities: Unknown_

 _Race: Unconfirmed_

 _Weapons: N/A_

She twitched at the bit of information she was allowed to see. She never knew it wasn't an option if something was made for you.

"Multiracial" she muttered.

"What was that?" Fury asked to repeat.

"I'm a mutt." She said pointing at the race.

"Oh we meant human"

"There are options?"

"If only you knew" he chuckled.

"Fine…human"

"Right…"

She ignored the jibe and began to look around to the other items beginning to pop up. First up were pictures of her as a child fixing vehicles with her grandfather, her gaze softened thinking about them. Then were pictures of her scrapping for parts and tinkering. At twelve when she invented a prototype for a hover board from a skateboard and metal rims for cars. The last image caught her interests more than the others. Floating were pictures of her in middle school winning first prize at a contest over an eco-friendly battery for a miniature vehicle. Her in high school meeting with potential recruiters for school while explaining her theory for free energy in third world countries through the battery prototype.

"Wait!" She interrupted the weird slideshow. "How is my meeting with recruiters a success? I got no offers..."

" _We_ didn't want to have you be wasted potential."

"So you stopped me from getting offers my sophomore year?!"

"Again, it was for the greater good" He replied nonplused.

Tess took a step back surprised at how easily he said these things. She had a face of horror at the thought of the manipulation the government had on her life. How much was accidental and fate and how much was them become a puppet? What was even real?

"What do you want? Stop me from going to college so I'm a little pawn in all of this. Did...did Tony even accidentally hire me or was that all you?" She whispered.

"Well...that's the funny thing, you weren't qualified for anything!" He chucked,

"We we're going to offer you something to test the waters but Stark got in the way."

She flushed at the comment already knowing she was very unqualified at the job that Tony gave her. She was incredibly lucky to have someone who cared about her enough to give her access to everything.

"Offer something?" she breathed out.

"Caught that did you?" He smirked and began to pace again. "You were to be recruited that very night on the subway"

"You assumed I would have said yes?" 

"You'd be surprised how much desperation helps with making decisions"

She looked disgusted at his comments. What now? What now that she clearly would say no?

"Well I'm not desperate now, and even if the offer is off the table, I refuse it."

"Well you see…when it comes to us…the option is never 'off' the table as you so kindly put it" A table appeared at the center of the room with business documents. "You and Tony have been naughty" he continued. "Here are documents of you creating international disasters in Monaco," he flipped more pages "Los Angeles" he continued, "and would you look at that? Afghanistan."

"That wasn't me, in any of that. I was too young to even-"

"How can you prove that?"

"I was a minor!" she said angrily looking at the edited pictures putting her at the center of all of this. This was stupid, even for them.

"I am of no use to you or any of your superiors" she began ignoring the shaking from her hands. "I cannot convince Tony to do a damn thing, and you cannot blackmail me into joining something. If you say this is for the greater good, then at least sell it that way when you ask someone to sell their soul. I refuse and…. and if I go to jail for anything well…"her lip wobbled, "I'll just be a political prisoner."

"Add pathetically loyal and moralist to the list." He called out to Natasha who was staring at Tess intensely.

"Was this a test?" she looked disgusted.

"Well what can I say? I like testing people"

She growled.

"As your chart says my alliance is with Tony and it will always be Tony" she snarled.

"And what feeds that loyalty hm? He hasn't always been the best person to you. Lord knows he forgets about you when good pair of legs cross his path. You do not own his heart, in fact…if he even has one it would not belong to you." Natasha said curiously. "So is Love keeping you there?" There was little malice despite the tone, which took Tess aback.

"I-I don't want Tony's heart?" she replied after a while, uncomfortable with the topic. "I love Tony…he's my idol. You know? Finding someone who gives you an opportunity to better yourself, to be your true self, you owe them a lot. I do not wish to have Tony's heart, but to repay my debts with him. He's a good man, who would be an asset to you…if you only stopped forcing him to do things."

"You're a good kid" Fury said interrupted what could be a big fight. He could tell Natasha was uncomfortable with the topic in which it began and how it flourished to hit closer to home. "Keep us in mind…we will be asking or favors."

"And I assume I have to accept the offers?"

"Good Girl. Now, I have things to do….Natasha"

He signaled Natasha to once again take Tess out of …whatever room they were in. She didn't even struggle and allowed herself to be moved. She was scared and couldn't help but wonder how much was Tony's fault in all of this. He didn't bring her into the spotlight, he foolish brought herself to all of this.

As she was blindfolded and walked back to the car, she was relieved she was at least awake during this time. The drive back…she assumed was back to the mansion was one filled with silence. She didn't want to talk and Natasha even less. She just hoped Tony would be done soon.

 **…**

Someone shook Tess awake and she flinched immediately at the contact. Opening her eyes she saw Natasha staring down at her with a box of things. Sitting up slowly, she allowed the older woman to put the things down on the couch.

"What's this?" she asked.

"You and I need to go to Stark Expo, so start getting ready"

"We need to go? Oh no, you need to go… isn't that right. Nathalie?" she grinned.

Natasha glared and shoved the bigger box towards Tess once more. "You are going because one I said so, and two Coulson informed me that you're under my supervision. So you're on watch with me to make sure nothing goes wrong."

That got Tess' attention. "You know…I am not a secret agent, I can't fight and I have a fear of large crowds so…"

"But you know Stark Expo like the back of your hand. Did you not help Stark rebrand and helped him choose the exhibits? We need to always look after Pepper, you know that right?"

Tess nodded immediately knowing that Pepper was a good woman who would need to get protection. Though she was unsure about how close she did want to be with the woman (after she hurt Tony), she knew Tony would protect Pepper if she was given an opportunity.

"Fine"

Grabbing the box she got up and began to change in what was left of her room. She slipped on a little black dress. It was a off the shoulder dress, simple and clean, something she would totally never wear. She was still colorful even in the most formal of places. But she figured she wasn't going to complain about something so small. As she began to brush her hair and get ready she found herself really taking a look at herself. She looked pale and very tired, like her energy was being sucked out.

"It's time" Natasha came in with the box.

Tess didn't say much but turned to the woman to give her the medicine. The urgent need that she had had disappeared with some sleep, but her mouth did water at the thought of getting more medication. She took a deep breath and shuddered as the bright blue liquid entered her bloodstream. Staring at the mirror once more she felt her skin getting color, her lips getting back it's red hue and her eyes looking alive and almost wild.

"When will I be off of these?" she asked Natasha softly.

Natasha noticed the change in demeanor but said nothing. She had to ask Fury about just what side-effects came with the change. She knew it kept her heart beating and her body running through endorphins and good feelings. Natasha only hoped it wasn't what she was thinking that she was applying to the younger girl.

"Do you feel better?" she asked avoiding the question.

"After that…yeah" she breathed out the reply. "Are we almost out?"

"Finish getting ready and I'll get the car"

Once her shaking stopped, Tess pinned her hair back in an old-fashioned style before slipping on her shoes and blazer. She looked so boring; she put red lipstick on before rushing to get her phone. She texted Tony quickly not knowing if they had his phone…but it was worth the risk. She heard Natasha called her over and she rushed out hoping that things would be alright.

 **…**

She hugged Pepper the moment she saw her and admitted to missing the older woman. She was a good influence that helped her get some education amongst the mess that had occurred with Tony. Pepper and her spoke like old times, ignoring the big elephant in the room named Tony. As Pepper explained to her what they were doing, Tess was already mad. She did _not_ want to attend the Hammer portion of the expo. This was insulting to Tony and she hated Hammer with a passion at his need to ruin everything.

Walking into the conference she sat down near the front with Pepper and Natasha. She did not hide her expression of displeasure as the man arrived parading and dancing on the stage. What was this a low quality dance party? She scoffed and ignored the hit that Natasha gave her on her side.

As he began to talk her temper began to flare at the mentioned of Iron Man, the technology and more importantly his judgment on the idea that Tony's ideas should not be kept from the masses. She bit down the bile as Hammer spoke about War and the importance of drones. She had begged Tony to get out of military things and here she was, watching another man do the thing that she hated most. She covered her mouth in shock at the Iron Man lookalikes.

"-Lieutenant James Rhodes"

"What?" Pepper exclaimed.

Tess automatically got up in shock and disappointment as he came up on the stage wearing one of Tony's suits.

'That bastard nearly kills me only to give the technology to Hammer?!" Tess snarled.

"I am out of here"

As she grabbed her things ready to leave, Natasha gripped her arm, _hard_ and pulled her back down. Before an argument could start, a noise was heard and Tess slowly let out a wide smile signaling Natasha as to who it was. Tony appeared and flew to the stage only to earn a large hoot and cheers from the crowd.

They waved through the crowd as if nothing was wrong, but the three women sitting down knew better, especially the agent. She let go of Tess quickly and pulled Pepper up.

"We should go" Natasha murmured.

Before anything could be done, the drones began to take out their weapons. Dread hit Tess in full force. She did not want to die like this, especially not in one of the troubled moments such as this. Tony flew up and the drones following shooting the skies.

Glass fell around them and she shielded her face from everything. Natasha began to drag them out, but Tess resisted.

"No!" she tugged the other two women. "I refuse to be a damsel, something is wrong and I intend to find out what it is"

Before they could protest Tess began to run through the crowds. She shielded her head as more glass fell and pushed through the walls of people that were running towards the exits. She knew that there was more to the eye than just Rhodes and Tony having an argument. Never would a drone attack people like that. Speaking of, she threw herself on the ground as one was shooting crazily. The delicate design of the Stark Expo was not ideal for the large monsters. She felt someone lift her from the ground and realized it was Natasha. The woman gripped her hand and pulled her through the crowd and towards the back with Pepper in tow.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Pepper cried out the moment she saw Hammer.

Tess had never seen Pepper so mad, this was worse than any tone she'd ever use on Tony.

"We have it under control" Hammer began annoyed at their interruption. "In fact everything was going great until your guy showed up. So shut your trap and leave, we don't need you"

Turning away from the three, he murmured. "We have to get these bitches out of here" that got Natasha to grab him and slam his head against the desk. Pepper cried in shock at the scene before her but Tess paid no mind. While Natasha slammed Hammer she pushed the men from the computer and began to work.

Her fingers dashed through the keyboard attempting to figure out how the drones were configured. It seems that the system that they were attempting to run was not completely in bedded in the drones, meaning it was easily overwritten, and never intended to control them to begin with.

"This is just a single layers program, it's most complicated features at best control the camera" she murmured as she attempted to add the basis of the codes to see if she can follow surveillance.

"Who is behind this?" Natasha hit Hammer once more.

"Ivan, Ivan Vanko" he hissed out.

"Where is he?"

"In my facility"

Natasha ran off and Pepper and Tess remained. Tess paid no mind to anyone as her mind began to try and figure out exactly what was going on. She knew the basic levels of how it worked and as she began to explain to Pepper what was going on and what could be done, it was clear that she would not find an answer through this system in particular.

"I gotta find Natasha" she murmured.

"What? No, we need you here" Pepper said as she began to explain the situation on the phone.

"No, the program is useless, if Ivan has the true system I need to go and figure it out. I am no use here if not behind the right computer."

She rushed off ignoring Pepper's protests to attempt to find Natasha. She pushed through the backstage and saw that Natasha was already heading out the doors. Policemen were attempting to help out, but it was clear that they were of little use. Explosions were thrown through the crowd and Tess attempted to get to Natasha no matter what. Something in her body began to thrum as she ran through, she could feel her heart against her chest beat wildly and her body hummed to speed up. She felt herself running through easier than usual, and before she was left behind she reached Natasha grabbing her hand before she got in the car.

"No" she immediately said taking in the wild look in Tess' eyes.

"I can help you once you get Ivan down. I know the codes"

Natasha's eyes shifted unsure, she was not used to working with partners. Nonetheless she let Tess in ignoring Hogan's protests of driving. But as he did what was asked, and rushed off, the young woman wondered exactly when normalcy would return.

"When we arrive I need you to watch the facility" Natasha began to order Hogan. "I will enter Hammer industries just keep watch"

As she explained she began to undress without a care, Tess looked a bit shocked at the woman but as she began to slip on the suit, and Hogan swerved the wrong way, she grew annoyed. Moving forward she attempted to cover his view of Natasha and slapped the back of his head as he swerved one more time.

"You keep your eyes on the road Hogan or so help me I will rip a limb off the moment we are safe to do so."

"Right" he paled after her comment.

Natasha looked done once Tess sat back on the seat and she felt herself thrum once more with something inside. The redhead moved closer and pressed her hand against her forehead.

"You feel a humming in your system?" Natasha whispered at her.

She received a nod in return. Tess felt like her skin was on fire and she wanted to rip things apart just to release the energy. The itch was long gone and her need for a thrill was running through.

"I know how it feels…I-I wasn't sure that this is what they wanted to do, but I guess they had no choice. Look" she grabbed Tess' face. "You need to concentrate on me and nothing else okay? Your body has too much pent up energy, it's a side effect of what they gave you I assume."

"You didn't know what you were injecting me with?"

"It wasn't my place to ask or know" was her response. "But I see the over-focus of your eyes. Mine happened years ago, so I know how the itch, you will come with me but listen to everything I say and nothing more understood?"

"Hm" was her only reply. She was scared of the urges running through her system and her need to destroy.

"Put this on"

As she body suit was thrown her way, she didn't bother taking off her dress first and instead began to slip on the suit from the bottom up. She ignored her shame as Natasha pulled it off her without asking and slid her arms in the last part before zipping it up immediately.

"Here's a gun," she placed it in the strap, "your communicator" on a clip on her hand, "and small bombs to detonate should you need to" that got her tense. Other gadgets were strapped to her body but she paid no mind.

….

Her heart was beating rapidly once they arrived. Natasha made sure Happy was left outside and once they entered the real fight began. She made no attempts to do anything other than stay behind Natasha as ordered. Seeing her in action made Tess realize that this woman was really more than met the eye. As once managed to escape her and rush Tess' way, she panicked.

"Listen to the humming!" Natasha called out as she took another one down.

Tess nodded as she felt her body shake, she was unsure if it was fear, or the need to break things. As the man came forward she punched him in the face as best she could and kicked him on the side making him groan. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down with him earning a growl from her. She kicked wildly, unwilling to be taken over, but she was no Natasha. The humming increased as her adrenaline began to hit and then she blacked out.

In that black out she had kicked the man twice, pinned him down and broke his leg. Had Natasha not seen, she would have never believed it. The serum ran deeper than expected and she knew that that strength and anger did not come from the little girl there. Gripping her hand she pulled her along unwilling to be slowed down. She knew that Ivan knew that they were in and she would be damned if she got caught so quickly.

"Breathe" hissed.

Another round and Natasha took no prisoners. She curled her body around them making sure that she put them down. Tess threw a few electrocution tools, but only when signaled by Natasha. She did not want to get in the way and she tried to ignore the need to break a bone.

"Go forward, and use the gun" Natasha hissed.

Tess rushed forward ducking through the men rushing to get to the redhead. She was by no means anything and once she kicked the door she realized she was truly in her element. Ivan was gone, not really a surprise, but throwing her gun aside she slid onto the chair and began to type.

The codes made much more sense now with the computer system in place. She didn't dare speak and as Natasha was attempting to get her to do what she wanted she was not listening. Eight drones were down, the ones left were Rhodes and the Navy.

"Override the-"

"I know" she turned to Natasha briefly. "I know this"

Natasha nodded and allowed her to continue while Hogan and her searched the perimeter. She needed to get Rhodes suit in order, that much was clear and if it was anything like the Iron Man…she smirked.

"314159 Oh Tony I love you" she breathed out amused as she began to override the system. The reboot began and soon enough it seemed that everything was down. She spun her chair around in glee which caught Natasha's attention.

"You got your best friend back" Natasha spoke to Tony.

It was then Tess realized he was communicating through the system. He was relieved to see he was okay.

"Thank you Agent Romanov, how did you figure it out?"

"Oh Tony" Tess laughed softly, "I know your soft spot for Pi"

That got a grin from him. "Well _Agent_ Holmes, I had no clue your fingers did the talking. Do you see I'm not dying?"

"You invented the element, congratulations, I see your vitals at a much better place" Natasha interrupted.

"Dying? You were dying?" Pepper interrupted hysterical.

"Oh no" she whispered.

"What are they doing?" Natasha murmured as the argument began.

"What they always do…argue" she replied.

"And you're sure you want to remain with these people?"

"Mhm" she grinned at Natasha.

Both of the woman looked a bit put off realizing the peace that they'd made with one another. The respect was begrudgingly mutual and it seemed that perhaps they weren't as different as they once thought. Natasha was the first to snap out of it.

"Hey! Save it for the honeymoon, drones are coming your way Tony."

"I got it. Work on the other ones closer to the expo"

"On it"

"Thank you Agent Bunny" and he cut off.

Tess growled at the comment but did nothing instead began to work on the codes. They all varied with alternatives and no matter what code she put from Tony's it was clear this was all Vanko's doing.

"Shit" she murmured as she began to go deeper into the system. It was clear that he had made it so complicated that it came in layers. Natasha loomed over her taking it all in, attempting to see if anything would see familiar to her mind when it came to hacking.

"What's the origin of the program?"

"It's not your standard one, in fact it's so intricate in levels of programming that I actually wished I'd gone to school before this" she bit her lip and attempted a new code.

"Well…maybe if we survive you can do that"

"Shut up" Tess snorted before successfully getting through to the next system of codes.

"If this is your final then maybe you can do this."

"Tony could do this in his sleep" Tess whispered to herself.

Natasha said no words of comfort for her comment. It was true, but they didn't have him now did he?

"Oh no" Tess' tone changed immediately. "Oh shit."

As she clicked around she realized something horrible. She had no knowledge of the coding because she never dealt with explosives. As she rushed through the program she knew what was coming.

"They're going to blow"

"What?"

'They're all meant to self-destruct."

 **….**

As Tony and Pepper kissed, Tess and Natasha stared from the screen both with differing emotions. How was it possible that such an accomplished woman feel for that pompous ass? Natasha shook her head in shock at how arguing turned into them kissing. Tess on the other hand was so giddy, it was as if her parents were getting together. She wanted Tony to get the woman he deserved and Pepper took none of his crap.

"They're so cute"

"You're disgusting, come along, we have to debrief you"

Getting up she wiped the invisible dirt from her outfit.

"So can I keep this?" she asked amused.

"Hm…yes. We have a lot to talk about."

"After I take a nap"

"Another one?"

"I'm not a super spy, just a juiced up kid"

"You said it"

For the first time, Natasha made Tess laugh at the joke. Something had changed that much was clear. As she shoved her slightly, the two walked back to Hogan who was probably ready to go home.

 **…**

 _Three Months Later…_

She figured that everything would work itself out and she was back to being "human". Tony and Pepper were happily together and were going strong, which surprised everyone but her. She knew they were meant to be. As for her, she had to have two months work of recovery from the serum and once she was good she was ready to be a regular human. They told her that they'd be in contact. She didn't quite care, for the first thing she wanted to see was nearly there. Her leg shook excitedly as she felt the plane land and they were allowed to get out.

During Tony's vacation with Pepper, it seemed that she was foolishly placed as a replacement consultant. She knew Pepper would never be able to properly let go, so she had no fears of screwing everything over. The good thing that came from all of this was her honorary degree from MIT. She did not receive a medal like Tony and Rhodes, which was absolutely fine with her. She instead received a gift; Tony had shown the level of skills during the attack that MIT had given her a honorary doctorate. She owed that man good, that's why he asked for that small favor of taking care of the company while he took her to Aruba.

Checking her luggage, she paid no heed to the whole situation. She knew she would have to eventually have responsibilities and she wasn't going to shy away from them. Since everything she realized that she was stuck in this mad world of heroes and villains and the least she could do was make their lives easier.

"Tess!"

But all that didn't matter for the moment she saw her boyfriend everything went out the window. Rushing through the airport terminal she saw him with a sign welcoming her home. Throwing her luggage aside she threw herself in his arms and kissed him soundly.

"I love you" he whispered against her temple as he held her.

"I know" she replied before letting go.

She had thought about him after the incidents occurred and knew she wanted to get to him as quickly as possible. Did she think that they were ideal for one another like Tony and Pepper? She wasn't sure. But as he held her firmly and she took in his scent she knew this was a comfort she would not leave anytime soon.


	8. Seventy Years in the Making

**_Author's Note:_** _Thanks for the follows! This chapter will fast forward and move toward the actual meeting. I can't wait! Please review._

 ** _The American Dream_**

 ** _Chapter 8: Seventy Years in the Making_**

December 31, 2011

Tess looked on as the party went forward. Now that Stark Industries had beat Hammer Industries, business was booming more than ever. Thankfully Tony had managed to get his technology away from the army in general and instead helped as best as possible without getting to involved in giving weapons. She wasn't completely happy with their involvement but she knew it was better to have this little involvement compared to how he used to be.

She smiled at how she found herself working as a businesswoman in the industry. As much as she tried to stay away, she had to learn, Pepper made sure of it. Now that Tony and Pepper were a "something" she had managed to get Tony to agree that Tess had potential to not only be his little "inventor" but to actually have some knowledge about how a business even ran. Slowly she was getting used to stocks and the movement of money. She wrinkled her nose of the thought. She still didn't like it.

A kiss on her cheek distracted her. Slowly she turned to see her boyfriend smiling at her: a miracle really. This was one of the times where they were happy. Things had quickly grown sour since her return and if she was honest, she didn't know what happened. Truly it had never improved from how they used to be. She was growing on her own and didn't need him as much as she used to, and him, well he worked hard to get his degree and when he asked her to go out and do things as young adults, she would shy away working on a project with numbers. She never truly meant to neglect him, but she knew she was at fault in some degree. But in turn, he grew more selfish and unwilling to value her position. It was a rope they teetered on often and she would not argue with him especially not now. Things were good.

"Thinking hard?" he teased.

"Hmm...just thinking about the things that have happened in the year" she smiled.

"Two more years and I'll be out" he once again began to talk about himself. As he went on about his future and what he imagined for them, she simply hummed not really agreeing to anything.

It was easier to stay quiet than question him. She hadn't had any dreams or hopes about them for a while. She knew Tony noticed from across the room as they made eye contact. He rolled his eyes and lifted his brow noticing that Ben would not stop talking not even realizing she wasn't listening. She stuck her tongue out at his silent judgment. He merely lifted his glass knowing that he would not think about having the conversation with her again. The last time was bad enough.

 _Flashback…_

 _She was laying on the ground looking up as the number and figures of how much money it would cost to fix the destruction of Hammer Industries attacks on Los Angeles. She lifted her hand and swiped to the left shifting in hopes of making the numbers make sense. She hated this thing, but Tony had begged her to make a plan to see how they could rebuild and possibly restart Stark Expo for the following year. In her mind that should never happen again.; it was a risky thing to even do in the first place._

 _"How's it looking?"_

 _"Tony isn't this your job as the CEO?" she asked turning her head to the left to take a better look at him._

 _With his dirty jeans and Rolling Stones shirt, you would never guess that this man had created such a growing business and in turn Iron Man himself. He wore his cool aviator glasses, which he removed only to give her a reproachful look. She huffed as she merely sat at his desk and looked at the numbers with his own level of distaste._

 _"I hate numbers too"_

 _"You like money though"_

 _"Who told you?" he took a sip of his coffee ignoring her glare._

 _Before she could retort her cellphone began to vibrate wildly on the floor. Both of them eyed her cell, but she did not bother to pick it up. She knew exactly whom it was from and she was not going to answer. They had argued in the morning when he proposed them moving together. She refused saying that while it was a good idea; she did not think that it was financially smart. In her own terms, she was not going to get an apartment farther away from her work for the convenience of pricing in Jersey. This was not an uncommon fight: Money. It seemed now that she made more, she refused to take care of him and his little stipend from college. She had gotten off a station early in hopes of avoiding him._

 _"You aren't going to answer that?"_

 _"Nope" she said as she went back to the floating numbers and pretending to care over them instead of her phone._

 _"Want me to answer it?"_

 _"Never"_

 _"Mad at you again?"_

 _She signed in response making it clear she did not want to talk about it. He didn't take the hint and made a mad dash to her phone. She sputtered and attempted to grab it before he answered._

 _"Hello? Yes hey Benny boy…mhm this is he. She's –agh!" Tony cried in shock as Tess threw herself on him attempting to pry the phone from his hands. He began to spin in hopes of getting her off, but she clung on hoping to get it from his hands._

 _"She does not want to talk to you, too busy with work. You must know what that is like right? Oh…you don't work…you study…well bye!" As he hung up she heard Ben yelling profanities on the phone._

 _Tess groaned and leaned against his shoulder in annoyance and tiredness. How can he be so annoying?_

 _"You need to dump that stupid kid. You're only wasting your time."_

 _"What do you mean by that? He is a good guy and—"_

 _"Then how come you fought today?"_

 _"Excuse me?" she asked aloud annoyed at him prying into her business._

 _"Come on now, you were fighting about something right? You do that a lot. I can see it in your face it pinches your expression. You know even on those days when Pepper and I really fought I never looked as mad as you look now."_

 _"Because one: you avoid her. And two: she's madder at you than you are at her. You don't know Ben"_

 _"You're right, but I know how he makes you feel and there has never been an instance wherein you come into the office with a bright smile on your face about him. Am I lying?"_

 _"You're—"_

 _The door opened suddenly and both stopped talking to turn to find Pepper staring at them amused._

 _"Am I interrupting something?"_

 _"I would never cheat on you Pepper"_

 _"Neither would I Pepper" Tess added squeezing Tony tightly making him wince. "But he's being a jerk."_

 _"By all means continue, but please tell me that you have some numbers to give the investors and the Mayor of Los Angeles?" the blonde crossed her arms amused._

 _"Um…"_

 _"Well Pepper…"_

 _"I'm waiting"_

 _"4.5 billion" Both suddenly blurted._

 _"Hm…you're lucky I already did the spreadsheet" Pepper said shaking her head._

 _"Wait you made me do this even though you had it covered?" Tess asked alarmed._

 _"Well…I trusted you, Tony on the other hand"_

 _"I love you too" Tony grinned._

 _Tess scoffed and the advice giving moment had ended. After climbing off of him she found herself pretending to be interested in Pepper's speech about numbers._

 _End Flashback…_

"Happy New Year!" he suddenly said scaring her out of her thoughts.

She grinned back at him, a grin that did not reach her eyes. It was insincere but as he kissed her, she forced herself to keep trying. It was hard to start over and well…she feared being alone.

"I love you" he said softly as he pulled her close.

But as she looked over to see Tony and Pepper hugging and kissing, she couldn't help but know she had not felt that genuine happiness in a partner in a long time. Pepper and Tony looked at them over and as she sent them a smile, she noticed Pepper disproving of Ben. She looked away not wanting to see the judgment in the pair and closed her eyes as she lay against her boyfriend's chest.

…

Two Months.

It was two months later and they had decided to take a break. She knew that it was for the best and while he looked angry, as she had suggested it, he did not fight her about it. She figured he had something in his mind that had made him agree.

 _'It was probably the Kimberly girl he wouldn't stop talking about'_ she thought somewhat annoyed.

Some feelings were still fresh with her, but she figured if it was a new year, a new start seemed fitting. Being twenty meant that she could start her adulthood to something fulfilling without another person to validate that. It seemed harder to do it than to just declare it, but as she found herself wanting to crawl back to him and ask to try again.

"Get that expression off of your face and help me with these boxes"

Turning over she saw Tony walking into her new apartment with boxes that he insisted she was too weak to carry by herself. In her attempt of adulthood and changes she had done the thing she had denied doing with Ben: she got a place. Well…Tony told her she needed to get out of that neighborhood and into something sensible and closer to work. She knew he and Pepper worried over how dangerous her late night commutes sometimes were.

She had thought this over and with her job in Stark Industries she figured it only made sense for her to nicely afford a place. This was nicer than she expected but not overly nice, much to Tony's displeasure. It had the square footage that was hard to find in New York and had a sixties vibe that she enjoyed. Helping Tony with one of the boxes she looked around smiled. The walls had a soft pastel blue on the walls with white accents. The window faced the busy street and she sighed pleased with herself.

"This place is a dump" Tony marveled.

"Hey!"

"I could have easily just—"

"I know" she interrupted pouting, "but I wanted to grow up and I can't just keep mooching off of you, you know."

"Well you'd still pay rent if I got you a penthouse" he commented, which earned him a dirty cloth to the face.

"Hey!"

"That's what you get" she bent down and began to unpack everything. "This is okay right? Like it's not too…shabby?"

He could tell by her tone she was actually serious in her question and cared about his opinion. He would never understand why she cared so much about it, but he was flattered. Bending down to help her take out her pictures he marveled at the pictures she'd saved. Some of her family, which he smiled seeing how simple and grounded they looked. It marveled him of how different she looked from her family. Her brothers were large burly guys as their grandfather; her grandmother was tall and lean, and then there was little Tess. She was the shortest member and her eyes always had a separate expression from them. There was always a question at the tip of his tongue over the whole thing; where were her parents. But he knew that from the few times he had casually asked, she shut down.

Putting those aside, one picture caught his eye. It was a picture was of them during the first function and he looked so bored in the picture; he remembered how Pepper had forced him in the picture with a terribly shy Tess who wanted to rush off. The next picture was all of them at a Halloween Party he had thrown; she had just recovered from her incident and she was a bunny and he was himself much to her amusement. They were smiling widely and he looked like someone behind the camera amused him. He remembered Pepper making a joke about them and he grinned.

"This is a good picture of us" he said pushing it to her.

"Are you purposely ignoring my question?" she asked before taking the picture and smiling.

"I like the place for you if you like it" He answered honestly. "You're only going to be here basically to sleep so it's fine. I would just add five hundred more locks on that door."

"Tony" she warned.

"I just want my little Bunny rabbit to be safe. No matter what kick ass juice Romanov put in you, you're still too delicate to be so far away from us. I mean…Midtown Manhattan would have been ideal."

"Tony, for that you should give me a huge raise and ten percent in stocks." She scoffed.

"Done" he said shrugging.

"Oh shut up" she huffed before beginning to hang the pictures.

He laughed at her annoyance before beginning to help her with what he could. This was something that he never really thought of ever doing. Looking over at the girl he noticed how she was growing up. It seemed silly, but when he had met her a bit over a year ago, she was so shy to the world. Now her brilliance shined despite how much she tried to hide it. He knew she had potential for so much and so long as no one corrupted her big heart she'd be fine in the world.

"Brought Chinese" Pepper called out before closing the door behind her.

Tess cheered before rushing off to help Pepper. They almost seemed like a family; she was chatting about something to his girlfriend as they sat down at the round table he had brought with him when he heard that she was moving. He knew that no matter how much she worked and was paid she would never overly spend. He would never understand it no matter how many times she explained it to him.

"Brought you Kung Pao" Pepper grinned before he walked over to kiss her as a greeting.

Things looked good so far and Tess grinned looking at the two of them. She never really had many friends growing up, instead hiding behind her work, but now it seemed almost perfect.

…

Everyone had left and she was left all alone. Her apartment was settled thanks to JARVIS who somehow got inputted in her apartment for security. She knew Tony left a connection to JARVIS so he could keep an eye out on her and make sure everything was okay. She did not argue with it and instead was happy to chat with the artificial intelligence for the little things.

As she threw the boxes to the corner she looked at her place. The walls were covered in pictures and art pieces of places she wanted to go. The couches were cozy and matched the soft atmosphere she wanted to bring to her home. The fireplace had a nook full of books and a fluffy carpet she could lay on as she read , or on the weird beanbag thing Tony gave her. She smiled thinking about how the man was more like a father or a brother than anyone in her life.

Humming softly she found herself getting ready to bed. This was her first time being completely alone and she was both excited and nervous. As the showerhead threw water her way she found herself wondering if this was something she expected to have at her age. At twenty she found herself having an apartment and completely single for the first time. She hadn't been single since she was fourteen and that in itself was daunting. Did she even know who she was? She nodded to herself, she did, and that's why that relationship ended. They grew beside one another, but not together. She flourished in her work and him in his studies and they could not come back and bring the other to the position the other expected them to be.

Getting out of the shower, she wrapped a towel around herself before slipping in a large shirt and crawling into bed. She sighed pleased with the feel of her new mattress of her new place. It felt right. Her sore muscles quieted down and she found herself dozing off quickly.

 **….**

It was not yet sunrise, and what would usually be a time to still be resting was immediately interrupted by something odd. Tess felt her senses begin to lift her from her slumber as she felt a heavy pressure on her back. Her body began to panic warning her to get up, and she opened her eyes only to realize this was not a dream but someone was there and pressing her on her mattress. She began to panic herself and attempted to get up only to get pinned down once more. _'Scream'_ her mind yelled at her.

As she parted her lips to scream, she got turned over and her mouth was officially covered. Looking up to see her assailant she found herself coming face to face with big blue eyes filled with mirth. The red hair fell over Tess' face and she glared the moment she realized it was Natasha. She slapped her hands in anger hoping to remove them from her mouth. That did the trick. Natasha grinned as the younger girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"That was the cruelest thing anyone has done to me" Tess placed a hand on her chest once she was allowed to sit up.

"You need to check your reflexes" Natasha remarked making no attempt to get up.

Tess glared as a response and pushed her off; she knew Natasha willingly got off or else that would have been harder than the push she gave now. Sitting up, she ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to calm herself she looked at the woman. The spy had cut her hair and was now in a wavy bob that suited her.

"I was asleep Natasha" she whispered annoyed at herself for being jittery. Her heart slammed itself against her chest as a wave of adrenaline finally hit her. Her brain was still hazy from the deep sleep. "God" she covered her face as she curled against herself as her body shook.

"Jeez, was it that bad?" Natasha's tone was a bit apologetic, well as apologetic as she would ever get.

"God I hate you" Tess said after a while trying to get ahold of herself.

"Stop being a baby…though you really have to up the security" Natasha added as an after thought. "Nice place it's…spacious."

She only received a growl in return and Natasha found herself amused. Silence went over the pair of them before she heard Tess compose herself.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"We have an appointment to attend" Natasha simply said.

"What? No, it's…."Tess turned to look at the clock. "Three in the morning. I have an appointment with my bed to sleep for six more hours before I head to work."

As she attempted to turn and roll back into bed Natasha quickly rolled both of them off the bed…and onto the ground earning a grunt from Tess. While she struggled in annoyance the bedroom door opened.

"Well…this is a greeting" a man said, one who she's never met in her life.

Natasha scoffed before pulling Tess up and cleaned herself. She made a signal for him to introduce himself, but when he did nothing, she figured she was going to do all the work.

"This is Clint, he too works for S.H.I.E.L.D. and is our ride."

"Sup" was his only response.

Tess knew that this was not a decision whether or not she was going to attend something. So she did what she could; she grabbed a change of clothing and locked herself in her bathroom. While she changed she couldn't help but think that one day she could have some normalcy. _'Doubt it'_ her mind responded fairly quickly. As her slipped her simple t-shirt over her sports bra she got out only to find them out of her room and waiting by the door. Slipping her sneakers she grabbed a jacket before following them.

 **…**

Whatever she was expecting this was definitely not it. Initially she had promised to be in contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. whenever it suited them. But as time had passed, she had figured they had forgotten about her. For some stupid reason, she actually believed she could have a semblance of normalcy for those months that they had left her alone. But as she saw at the end of a conference table with Nick Fury looking at her completely serious, she knew this was not the case. The man had a plan, she could tell by his expression. She interlaced her fingers and waited patiently for the man to begin. For a brief moment she hoped that Tony would just interrupt and make sure everything was safe.

 _'So much for JARVIS being a good security asset'_ she thought annoyed.

"Well…Ms. Holmes I am glad you agreed to meet with us"

She leaned back on her chair and waited for him to set the stage. He always did that and it always annoyed her. He was sometimes like those cliché villains in TV shows where they took their time to show their master plan. She was tired and half asleep and she did not have time for this.

"Cut the crap. What do you need me for? Are two seizures not good enough for you people?" she now crossed her arms showing how annoyed and grump she truly was.

" _…Fine_ if you will not take pleasantries then let's cut the crap. We need your technology for a mission of sorts and well, we want to see what potential this machine of your has."

"Which one?" she asked quietly. She was curious, and he knew she was curious which made her uncomfortable.

"The one you call A.I.D.E.R. I believe" he continued.

For one brief second she was surprised they even knew about A.I.D.E.R. but then she realized exactly who they were and she waited for it to continue.

"How does the Artificial Intelligence Diagnosing Emergency Robot suit anything in your field? It is just a prototype as you once saw in Tony's lab."

"Why do you think that we saw it in Tony's lab?"

"You were the ones that broke in once right? The ones that JARVIS prevented from entering. You saw my work there; I haven't work on him since then."

"Liar" Natasha called out. Walking forward the woman threw the pictures and copies of sketches that Tess had been working on in the background of working within Stark Industries. She quickly took the picture of the advanced "brain cells" she had created for AIDER and the network of empathy she was beginning to add to the artificial intelligence.

"Fine…you want my ideas? No, they're mine." Tess quickly said refusing to give them any credit for her work. AIDER did not come from Tony or anyone else, it came from her own brain and she refused to have anyone else take credit.

"We need you Miss Holmes for a simple mission."

Tess knew something was up; she found herself sitting straighter and felt tension running down her back. This was not sounding good; if Tony's pushback against S.H.I.E.L.D. was anything to go by, she was in trouble. She didn't dare interrupt, instead she listened; it was best to just take in all the information.

"We need your invention and you to go on a rescue mission for us. Natasha will be accompanying you and-"

"-And so is Tony"

Tess smiled widely as she saw Tony appeared in his Iron Man suit and for a brief moment enjoyed being a damsel in distress. She didn't know why he was there but she wasn't complaining.

"Who invited you?" Fury drawled out biting back his annoyance.

"How did you even know?" Natasha asked.

He signaled Tess and she pulled down her shirt to show the tracking clip on her sports bra and grinned brightly. Nick Fury looked annoyed and Natasha looked amused as Tess unclipped it and got up to walk to Tony hoping to get out of it.

"Now, that I'm here, we can talk business. While the A.I.D.E.R. is intellectual property of my protégé, the parts and items come from Stark Industries and it was done on office hours thus it falls under my supervision what is done with those items." He said confidently.

Tess bit her tongue at his comments and kept herself close to Tony just in case it was needed. Nick Fury looked annoyed for a moment before he nodded.

"Very well, you three shall go with our men on a rescue mission. We will be leaving this moment."

"Rescue mission? How long were you waiting to do that?"

"He's been waiting for seventy years." Were his last words before Fury left.

Natasha clapped her hands and began to talk to them in more details as to what was expected. What was clear was that Tess was the most under qualified person to attend and had no clue why she was stuck with this job. What she didn't know was that this rescue mission would change her life forever.


	9. I've Just Seen a Face

**_Author's Note:_** _Thank you for the follows. I only hope to receive more reviews. Now this is what we are all waiting for and I can't wait to hear what you think. Please review, favorite and follow. Thank you!_

 ** _The American Dream_**

 ** _Chapter 9: I've Just Seen a Face_**

 _April 16, 2011_

From the hundreds of scenarios that came into her mind, never once did she expect for this to be the rescue mission. In front of her was a block of ice that held the man they had been looking for her seventy years. Fury, Natasha, and Tony were talking as to what to do next while she was suppose to rush AIDER to see if there would be any signs of life within the block of ice.

 _'This is like Frankenstein's Monster'_ she thought.

As AIDER began to run the tests and began to melt the ice at an appropriate level, she found herself wondering what was the big deal about saving this man. She hadn't bothered to really pay attention to the said man, instead pondered over how the block of ice was so important. She began to look at the computer screen reading the vitals of the man before her, but as she heard something fall she tensed and turned around. Before her on the floor was a shield. She bent down and slowly brought the shield closer. It was red, white, and blue with stars.

 _'Very patriotic'_ she thought.

Something in her mind made her think that she had seen this before. She caressed the metal softly, surprised at the specific feel of it. While she pondered this, she heard AIDER beep.

"Scan complete, body in restoration mode"

"Status?" she asked the robot.

"Organs in perfect condition, need help to keep a natural respiration." At that mention she got up and began to work on putting the machine on the man before her.

It was the second that she noticed exactly what the man looked like that she froze. She had never seen a man so….so…

 _'Handsome'_ her mind supplied for her.

Her body flushed in embarrassment at how she had such shallow thoughts at a moment such as this. This was not the time to be looking at someone, especially when she had just left someone she had cared about. Shaking her head, she delicately placed the oxygen mask and pushed the hospital bed into the chamber that Tony had created for this occasion. The machine would help the body come back to life and be able to work as a normal body would. AIDER was left to monitor the condition which was something she did not need to be a part of.

"Crazy right?" Tony said.

Turning around, she noticed how tired he was. She nodded and scooted over as he almost sat on her. He had invented that chamber with her a mere hours prior to the flight. She knew how little he was sleeping and she wasn't too pleased about all of this.

"What are you thinking about Bunny?"

"Have you even slept?" she asked curiously.

"Not at all" he admitted.

Slowly he shuffled and stretched out on the seats on the side of the large aircraft, and used her lap as a pillow. He sighed and she felt him slowly release the tension that he's had. She often times wondered just how he survived on so little sleep. Her fingers automatically ran through his hair and he hummed relieved at her actions. Their dynamics had not changed at all; she still ended up picking up the pieces or forcing him to sleep. It was silly how much she took care of the man who was older than her.

"Don't be so stingy with the petting" he mumbled.

"Don't be so needy" she retorted but massaged his scalp.

"Who is he?" she couldn't help but ask.

"You don't know? That's the good old Captain America" he scoffed.

"Captain America? I thought that was just government propaganda for the war effort. Wasn't he just…should he just be…." She trailed off unsure how to properly word what she meant.

"Dead?" he added bluntly much to her amusement.

"Mhm"

"Well my father used to talk about him all the time. How good and wholesome Steve Rogers was and blah blah blah" he waved his hands in the air as he talked much to her amusement.

Tess snorted and she continued to wait for him to talk. It was so rare that he actually spoke of his father that she wanted to picture exactly what he meant. The silence grew between them and she knew that he was done mentioning about his father.

"So…he's a real superhero?" she asked.

"Hey!" he looked indignant and she laughed softly.

"You know what I mean…he saved us during World War II" she looked amazing and stared at the man in the chamber.

"Yeah….I guess" he shuffled around and put himself in a more comfortable position. "Can we stop talking, I'm tired and you're being stingy."

She laughed once more and continued to scratch his scalp before the two of them began to doze off. The thoughts of the amazing man in the chamber soon disappeared as sleep overtook her.

…

"Time to get up!"

Fury's loud voice boomed over the plane and Tess' sleep was immediately interrupted me. As she heard a thump followed by a groan she knew that she wasn't the only one. Blinking a few times she looked down to see Tony on the groan rubbing his face in annoyance and in pain. She smiled lazily before helping him up. Clearly both had attempted to catch up on sleep and failed. Her eyes took in the plane and noticed that the body had been moved.

"Where is he?" she asked curiously.

"Come along, we have a lot of to talk about" Natasha commented without bothering to answer the question.

…

"Why am I doing this again?"

Tess did not receive a response instead she was pinched on her side as the dress was pinned closer to her body. She was annoyed as she was asked to immediately change her outfit and instead wore a wholly inaccurate outfit. Never once did her appearance matter but at the moment it was apparently important. The first thing they asked of her was to pull down her hair. Despite her hair already being wavy, they began to curl the hair and make large curls only to brush them out and pin it back. Next they removed her glasses and gave her green contacts; the color made no sense to her but who was she to argue? Once done, they pinched her cheeks, and put bright lipstick on. Next once her hair was pinned back, a nurses hair was placed on her head and pinned tightly. Lastly, they slipped on the dress and shoes that looked unnecessary. As they finally backed away and let her look at herself she looked like Rosie the Riveters' pinup cousin. She looked wholesome, but far too costume-y for her liking. The only thing that she did catch her attention was that fact that she looked striking. She always tended to think of herself as being boring, and average but with the contacts she looked memorable.

"Don't you look like those dirty magazines my father used to have"

She flushed immediately and turned around to glare at Tony who looked far too amused by all of this. She threw her shoe at him and much to her annoyance he found it even funnier. He moved closer and grabbed her chin taking a good look at her and suddenly frowned.

"Were the contacts necessary? You look so weird with green eyes"

She slapped his hand away and glared. This was not the time to play around.

"Tony why is no one telling me anything."

"Calm down Bunny, apparently good Ol' Captain will be awake soon and they don't want him to go into shock. So…this is where you come in and-"

"Why me?" she asked.

"That….I don't know how to answer. To be honest, I thought we would be done after bringing that block of ice back, but I guess that's not the case. Seems that you're playing your part longer than we expected Nurse Holmes"

"Enough playing around you too" Natasha interrupted. "We need you to start working Holmes. Come along."

Tess looked nervous and all Tony could give her as mutual support were thumbs up. She rolled her eyes amused, but it was clear to Tony that a smile was about to come through. As she walked away, Tony couldn't help but think that they were more involved than he ever through they would be.

…

The first thought that Steve Rogers had was that his head was pounding. As he slowly regains consciousness, he attempted to take in his surroundings; his eyes were hard to open for some reason but he took in what information he could. The first thing he noticed was that he was in a bed, a very comfortable one at that. Next was the noise of the radio playing softly in the background, giving news about something he couldn't quiet pay attention too.

 _'Get up'_ his mind told him.

Slowly he opened his eyes; the light that came in immediately made him wince and blinked a few times to really take notice of the room around him. Looking around he noticed that the room was a plain white room, with a soft gray adding a bit of color. Next was a lamp in the corner of the room that dimly lit the room. It seemed unnecessary considering it was daylight and the window had light coming in. He looked down at himself and noticed that he was dressed in civilian attire. His suit was nowhere near him and his shield was not beside his bed. He felt paranoid.

Slowly the doorknob turned signaling that someone was coming in. He tensed wondering exactly what was going on and how dangerous the person would be. As it turned it the person was a woman and she did not look to be dangerous at all. She was a nurse: brunette, petite and based on her quiet movements thought of him to be asleep.

 _'Maybe it is safer to pretend to be asleep'_ he thought and closed his eyes once more pretending to be unconscious.

From under his lashes he noticed the young woman turn to face him. She was young was his first thought; her hair was pinned back making her look younger than she probably was. Her lashes were full and her green eyes looked his way as she took him in. She was nervous; probably he was her first patient. It was not uncommon for young nurses to be thrust towards new patients when first starting. As she walked forward, a soft scent came his way, it smelled of roses and something he couldn't quite pinpoint.

He heard the young woman mutter something before she began to inspect him. He felt the stethoscope placed lightly on his chest and he forced himself to slow down his breath to seem asleep as she checked him over. She tutted over something but said nothing. Once more she shifted and he was forced to truly close his eyes once she leaned over him. She opened his eye and he found himself unable to fake sleep as they made eye contact.

"Oh!" she cried softly in surprise.

She pulled back and when he got a good look at her she was flushing brightly at being caught in the middle checking up on him. He sat up and found himself a bit embarrassed at being caught faking it himself.

"I-I apologize" she looked nervous, much more so than any nurse he had ever met before. "I did not know-"

He took in his surroundings fully then, trailing his eyes away from the woman and into the room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except…the radio. He found himself knowing something brief about it…something that reminded him of something.

"Where am I?" was the first words that he uttered.

"You're in New York City Mr. Rogers" the woman said softly. Her green eyes looked sincere as she said it. "Recovering from your injuries. Now if you let me-"

She moved forward but he leaned back a bit surprising her. He felt her nervousness rise.

"Where am I really?" he asked intently.

She looked at him confused. She tilted her head and really took him in, her shyness slightly gone as she studied him.

"I'm afraid I don't understand Mr.-"

"The game" he began lowering his voice to sound serious. "The game is from May 1941, I know cause I was there"

Her confusion disappeared in an instance and her gaze moved to the radio as well seemingly confused about it. As he found himself getting up and standing closer she found herself cowering away. If she was acting scared, she really played the part well. The nurse found herself taking a step back for every step he moved closer to her. She dropped the clipboard between them as he looked even closer; he never did like to intimidate women, but he needed to do what was necessary.

"Mr. Rogers I-"

"I'm going to ask you again…where am I?"

She parted her lips to say something but the fear in her eyes made him think that this was no act on her part. "Who are you?!" his voice got louder. Before she could utter a word soldiers immediately came from the door and he knew that this was a trap. As they began to surround him he immediately used his strength to push them off and into the wall, only to find the wall break instantly letting him know this was all fake.

As he pushed through the wall and began to ran he heard her voice.

"Mr. Rogers wait! Tony help!" she called out.

….

As he ran, Tess found herself shaking intensely as the soldiers followed. This was not what they told her would happen. All she had to do was gain his trust, and be a kind nurse, then slowly transition him into accepting the truth. She didn't care to be in his sights again and as he felt someone rush to wrap his arms around her, she knew it was Tony. She clung to him shaking as adrenaline began to hit. Steve Rogers never looked as intimidating as he did when he tried to figure out what was really going on.

"I'm going to kill them" Tony muttered as he kissed her forehead. "Are you okay?"

"Why did they pick a recording so inaccurate?" she asked softly. "He caught on so easily."

"I don't know, or care, what does matter is that we head back to the tower. You can spend the night and we can watch stupid movies that you like and sleep in tomorrow."

She laughed softly and she felt him relax. He was a good friend. Natasha appeared and signaled them to follow her.

"I'm sorry that this happened" she began, " we did not know what his mental state might be, but this was not one of the planned emotions to be honest" she admitted as she took them to the cars.

"Planned emotions?" Tony began sounding mad. "What if he was aggressive, he could have hurt her!"

"No, he couldn't we knew when to step in" she replied immediately. "Now get in, we have someplace to be." 

"No" Tony said stopping both he and Tess from moving forward. "I think we played long enough. She is not a SHIELD agent nor am I one. You refused to work with us remember? I was too dangerous?"

"Yes you were and I stand by my point, but we have things to do" she signaled the car once more.

"Well when you refuse to work with me, you are refusing to work with her. And I told you we are not working together. We are leaving."

"Tess please follow me" Natasha said no pleading tone in her voice.

Tess didn't even need to think twice as she grabbed Tony's hand he nodded and began to change into his outfit. As he wrapped his arms around him she knew they would be getting out. Gripping him tightly they flew away much to the annoyance of Natasha.

"They're not getting out of this that easily" Natasha murmured before following Nick Fury in hopes of helping to capture Steve Rogers.

….

Once they managed to get out of SHIELD, Tess insisted that she wanted to go home. She did not want to ruin the date night that Tony had planned (and forgot about) with Pepper. He didn't argue with her then realizing she might have saved him from an argument with his girlfriend. Before leaving though, he made sure to add another level of security leaving her with a kiss on her forehead and candy.

After Tony had left she found herself changing into a large t-shirt three times her size and just underwear. She knew that she was going to have a good night just to herself to relax. She texted Natasha telling her that she would _not_ be bothered and to have no one interrupt her day to herself. She was glad that Tony rushed off with her; she knew that that was not her world.

She sighed at the thought and stretched on the couch watching television. She found her thoughts drifting to the man she met today. Despite the initial fear when she did meet him she had to admit that he was very handsome. The first thing that she did take from him where his eyes; they were a beautiful shade of blue, that in a certain light had a hint of green. He was also so...big; she had never met someone that really took over so much space so quickly. She flushed at the thought of him and shook her head. Never had she found herself being to shallow but that man was so…she took a deep breath.

"Pay attention to the documentary Tess" she muttered to herself as she took a handful of popcorn.

After meeting the man she once thought to be fiction, she found herself wanting to re-watch World War II documentaries. She told herself it was because she had studied the history and that was her specialization, but in reality she wanted to imagine how Steve Rogers fit into all of this.

 _'What a name that is…Steve Rogers'_

A knock on her door made her jump in surprise; was she expecting someone? Pizza was her first thought. Grabbing money from her purse, she didn't really bother to have any decency to put on pants. If it was the usual teenager, he would simply blush and walk away without taking a tip much to her amusement. The deliveryman knocked again.

"Come Jimmy!" she called out.

Walking to the door she counted the money before opening it. She didn't even bother to see who it was. Pushing the money forward, it was then she realized who it was. Where Jimmy's face usually was she met a firm chest. She felt herself look surprised as she slowly lifted her gaze to the tall 6"3 man staring down at her in equal surprise. Steve Rogers.

"Oh" she whispered not really knowing what to say.

"Ma'am, I apologize for bothering you this late at night, but I merely wanted to apologize for what happened today. As he began to speak her face slowly had the flushed state go away but she still felt warm. She noticed how polite he was and how he spoke.

"So I would like to not only apologize but to formally introduce myself. My name is Steve Rogers, and once more I hope that you can accept my apology ma'am."

"Tess" she breathed out as she gripped the door tightly.

"Excuse me?" he tilted his head confused.

"M-my name is not ma'am. I-I'm not even a ma'am" she found herself rambling on, "my name is Tess, Tess Holmes and I forgive you Mr. Rogers."

"R-right" he seemed to straighten his posture even more making him look even taller to her 5'4 frame.

"This is all cute, but the pizza man needs to be paid" Natasha said behind Steve.

Tess made a noise of realization and excused herself and rushed downstairs leaving Natasha and Steve confused.

…

"She has great legs doesn't she?" Natasha said before walking inside leaving Steve outside by himself.

He found himself flushing at her brash statement; he would never comment about a woman being half dressed, it was improper. Still, he did notice that she was wearing merely a t-shirt, so different from what he knew.

Once he had briefed slightly over what had happened, he found himself being in shock for a moment. He had been asleep, he missed nearly seventy years of living, but more importantly he missed his date. That hurt more than he cared to admit, he missed his one opportunity for true love. He felt a pang once more but ignored it. His second thought was that he needed to apologize to the green-eyed nurse that he had frightened.

The redhead, Natasha laughed and told him that the girl would be fine. When he insisted that he needed to apologize she explained to him that she had already apologized for their behalf. She explained that the girl was not a nurse but rather a scientist that helped make sure that he transitioned back to animation. That made the guilt grow at the thought of scaring such a woman. A woman scientist…fantastic how this world had become. He still insisted to go apologize and he soon agreed telling him that she would take him to her.

The first thing he thought of when she opened her door was that she looked absolutely different than the woman he had met in the so-called hospital. For one thing her hair was not pinned back but wavy and falling down her shoulders. Next that her face was devoid of makeup and she had a pair of smart black-rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. The biggest thing he noticed were her eyes. She did not own green-eyes but rather soft coffee colored brown eyes who looked surprised to see him. It was clear that her doe-eyes were not part of the act but an expression that was innately her. The last thing…he had to admit to noticing was her bare shoulder. The shirt was loose enough to show her naked shoulder and her legs. He was being improper.

"Come in Captain, she won't get eaten by the pizza boy" Natasha called from the apartment.

He nodded and entered the apartment still unsure about invading the young woman's personal space. He walked in seeing an older looking apartment but with modern touches. _'Isn't everything modern to you old man?'_ his thoughts added amusedly. The walls were aligned with pictures of her and her family. He noticed that many held pictures of the man in a smart suit; he seemed familiar but he could not pinpoint it.

"Here we go!" The young woman…Tess he corrected himself called out.

Closing the door he noticed she had two pizzas and a few drinks. Noticing her struggle he immediately took some of the items and she softly thanked him. As he placed everything down, he noticed how painfully shy she was around him.

 _'It's only fair after you scared her'_ his mind chastised him.

"That's a lot of pizza for just one person. Is Benny back in the picture?" Natasha laughed as she ate popcorn.

"First of all his name was Ben, and second of all no. He is not back in the picture and believe me he will never be back" she scoffed. "Actually Jimmy gave me extra pizza…he didn't bother saying why."

"Have you seen yourself? I'm surprised he even took your money"

Tess gasped and Steve himself looked taken aback by the redhead's brashness. She saw the younger woman looking embarrassed before she rushed off muttering about putting something on that was more appropriate but that they could help themselves. When she returned she had a pair of black pants that seemed still very tight in his opinion and a man's t-shirt plain red.

Natasha was already grabbing a slice as soon as she was given the green light and Steve awkwardly stood there unsure what to do after he apologized and she took it. The younger girl noticed and smiled softly before taking out a plate and putting two slices on it and sliding it his way. He muttered a thank you and moved away from the table as a familiar noise took his attention.

There was a box that sounded like a radio but had color coming from the screen and had war playing. He tensed realizing the new device. Everything was too new but this…the thought of seeing war on it made the plate slip from his hands.

…

The plate breaking brought all of her attention to Steve Rogers. She realized he was taken aback by the television and more than that he was horrified at dropping her plates. Tess grabbed the broom and began to clean up the mess. She waved off his attempts at apologizing again as she cleaned up. She could only imagine what he was dealing with.

When she returned to look at him he looked like a scolded child who was still a bit enraptured over the television. She could only imagine what was happening to him; missing almost seventy years of your life was daunting. He missed so much. She frowned slightly as she noticed he didn't even notice her being there.

"Captain?" She muttered softly.

He didn't even notice her instead looking on as the soldiers marched through trenches on the television. His hands were shaking and she knew she needed to do something to snap it out of him. Reaching for the remote she turned off the television and called his name.

"Steve" she said softly.

That seemed to get his attention as he turned to look at her. His face was pale and it looked like he didn't know what to do with his hands.

"Hey, it's okay" she walked over and tentatively grabbed his hand. "Here take a seat and we…we can talk about what's going on okay?"

"Ma'am with all due respect, I do not know you and I barely know what is going on." He admitted.

"My name is Tess" She repeated not bothering to take in the rest of his statement. "And I just turned off the television" signaling at the flat screen, "that was showing a documentary about the war you fought in. I know this is all…crazy and I do not know what to actually say about this but I can tell you this…Are you hungry?"

"Excuse me?" he asked confused.

"Hungry? Do you want pizza?"

He didn't know what to say so he merely nodded. She grinned softly and he noticed there was a slight dimple on her left cheek before she dashed to her kitchen. When she took long he turned over to look at her. She stood in the kitchen with a letter in her hands and annoyance on her face. Slowly he got up and walked over to look at the note. Being much taller than her he easily read the note and was just as surprised as she was.

 _Dear Tess,_

 _Thank you for volunteering your services in helping the Captain assimilate_

 _to the 21st century. I know it'll be hard but you'll take on the challenge_

 _just fine. Don't worry you won't do it alone, but for now just keep_

 _an eye out for him. We will be coming to pick the two of you up soon._

\- _Natasha_

\- _P.S. Thanks for the free pizza. I left the other one there; I bet he has an appetite._

\- _P.P.S. – You're welcome._

"Miss…I can easily leave, I did not mean to be a bother I-"

"You have nowhere to go," she replied softly as she turned to look at him. He noticed her annoyed expression. "Again my name is Tess and don't worry, she said that you're under my care and they'll come soon."

She took a deep breath and she decided to keep herself busy. There was no need to make a big fuss about it, especially when there was a man that was entirely too polite for his own good. As she served them plates she signaled him to follow.

"Now come, let's sit and eat and you can maybe stop calling me Miss" she grinned softly at him.

She knew he was not to blame and she supposed that there were worst things that could happen to her than a handsome man who had no clue what happened in the world for almost seventy years. For now, they would talk, and then once they came to pick him up she would have a good story to tell Tony. What she didn't know was that the man who tentatively took her pizza and begin to eat would change her whole world. For this was only the beginning.


	10. I Can Hear the Bells

**_Author's Note:_** _Thank you for the follows. I only hope to receive more reviews. This chapter will concentrate on more simple conversations between Steve and Tess and not to mention a little fluff for Valentine's Day. Please review, favorite and follow. Please note that the chapter is named after the Hairspray Song. Thank you!_

 ** _The American Dream_**

 ** _Chapter 10: I Can Hear the Bells_**

 _"I can hear the bells, my head is spinning._

 _I can hear the bells, something's beginning."_

There were moments in Steve Roger's life where he considered himself unlucky. First were his poor beginnings, next was the fact that he was born so weak, and when he had the strength to be a real hero, he lost his one chance of a date with his only love. This was just cosmic irony, he was sure of it. What man would be stuck in the care of a woman in her own home? One that he had just met and had scared her in the minutes of knowing her?

As he took a look a the young woman he saw her doing the domestic task of plating him another slice and she put the other food away. He took advantage of this moment to simply study her; she was young, naïve and unassuming. That was his first impression of her when they initially met. Her eyes were soft in her gaze and he had to wonder how a girl like her could defend anyone let alone herself. With her short stature, she didn't look particularly strong, and she did not hold a presence like the woman Natasha carried. While in his musings, it took him a while to realize he was just blatantly staring at her. Thankfully he noticed before she turned around. As she looked at him, she smiled bashfully and moved a strand of hair behind her ear before turning away to wash the rest of the dishes. He did notice the smile did not leave her face.

 _'I wouldn't call you unlucky'_ a voice in his head that sounded eerily like Bucky whispered at him.

He knew that if the tables had turned and Bucky would be here instead of him, he would be pleased. Bucky was the type to always fall for any kind of women, strong, weak, tall, short, or determined; and someone as soft as Ms. Holmes? He knew Bucky would be on the prowl. Bucky was lucky with the ladies like that and the thought of being alone with this lady would be a dream. His mood dampened a little when he realized how Bucky passed. _'Everyone is gone'_

"Are you going to eat?"

He snapped immediately to look at her only to realize she was staring at him weirdly. He nodded and took the plate from her eating the slice of pizza absentmindedly. She tilted her head and smiled at him slightly before muttering something about going downstairs.

…

Tess needed to get out of there. She felt a panic rise as she caught him looking at her but not saying anything. It wasn't on purpose; she could tell by the way his eyes seemed glazed over. But the intensity in his thoughts, the way his eyes shifted from one thought to another distracted her greatly. She almost had a few plates fall from her grip but thankfully he was too lost to even notice.

 _'This is not good'_ she thought panicked.

She knew that it was because he was handsome, but that made her wish to separate herself more from him. The poor man just woke up after decades in ice, he barely had any knowledge of the modern world and she was not going to just flirt with him. _'As if you could flirt with him'_ she scoffed. She had to admit she had no clue how to even flirt, if she wanted to. Instead she took a deep breath and realized it was time for her to head back.

As she went up the stairs she noticed Steve was eating and staring at the television. It was off, but he was concentrating as if something was on. She tilted her head and smiled thinking that maybe he assumed something was on there if he tried. Walking over to the couch, she curled up on the left side and turned on the TV once more. She ignored him flinching and instead played the documentary from the beginning knowing he was curious about it.

"What..." he began unsure.

"It's a documentary about World War II, I assumed you would be curious to see. It's a bit long, so if you're tired we don't have to-"

"No" he interrupted then looked a bit embarrassed about doing it. "I-I wouldn't mind at least seeing how it all ended."

She nodded and quietly ate as the mysterious man became enraptured by the documentary. Over the course of the night, she would look over to the man every few minutes to gauge his reaction. She could only wondered just what went through his mind. But slowly, her own head got hazy and she fell into slumber.

….

Had all of those horrors really happened after he disappeared? He frowned considerably hearing about all the atrocities that would later be found out. It was disappointing to hear how horrible people could truly be in times of war. He could only wonder if Peggy, Howard and the others survived everything. He ran his fingers through his face and just tried to take as much information in as possible. What kind of life was this? He lost everything and he had not gained a single thing through his time. He wondered if his friends moved on, what they went out to accomplish and if they ever thought of him.

The only silver lining was that what he fought for was a worthy cause and it was a successful one. He had to thank Ms. Holmes for being so kind in letting him see this. She did not talk during the hours that the documentary went forward and she watched it alongside him. He looked over at the time and saw it was 3:00am. He was surprising at how quickly time passed. As he turned to look at the young woman who had been awfully quiet, he noticed her sleeping position. Her head rested awkwardly on the couch's armrest, and she had crossed her arms in front of her as she curled up against the edge of the couch. The position itself did not look comfortable.

He wondered if he should wake her. Looking around he noticed that there were two rooms in the apartment. He moved towards the first one to notice this was still a work-in-progress room. There was a full sized bed, some boxes and a lamp resting on the ground. This was probably not the right room. He then moved to the next to notice that this one was hers; it was still not perfect, but the sheets on it look ruffled and the bed unmade. There was a little lamp on the bedside table, and a small picture that rested there.

He knew what he needed to do. If she kept sleeping on the couch, she would wake up in pain. But did he dare move her without walking her up? _'What if she gets mad?'_ his mind surmised. He didn't think she would, she didn't seem the type. Steve took a deep breath and decided to do the best thing possible; he picked her up. Her body was small against his, and her head lolled over to the side only to rest on his chest. He felt embarrassment runthrough him at the thought of him doing something so daring. As he walked her to her room, he laid her on the bed and rushed out before doing something foolish. He couldn't help but feel curious as to how this simple girl fit into this whole craziness of S.H.I.E.L.D. He shook his head; it was best not to dwell on it.

…

A chirp on her phone made Tess wake up with a groan. Rolling over she blindly looked around touching her bed stand to find her phone. Lifting it to her face she squinted attempting to read it appropriately.

 _"Morning Sunshine, thanks for covering me last night. Now since you don't have work till the afternoon, how about going shopping? I know it's hard to imagine, but the old Captain needs some clothes. So how about being a good girl and getting some with him? We put something that you might need to pay for it. Get yourself something nice."_

Tess read it once, then twice only to feel her face flush in annoyance at Natasha's text. That woman and S.H.I.E.L.D. in general really took advantage of her good nature. She was going to text something refusing to do go and do their bidding, but the thought of Steve stopped her. He was too kind; he had nothing to do with SHIELD's manipulation. She snuggled deeper into her bed and sighed. _'Oh, that poor man'._

Speaking of, she looked around. She did not remember how she got here. The last thing she saw before dozing off was the invasion of Normandy. Did she get up half asleep? _'I hope so'_ she thought embarrassed about how her imagination ran wild.

 _'Get up, we have to get ready'_ her mind warned her.

Groaning in pain, she rolled out of the bed and rushed in the bathroom to shower. She rubbed her scalp and found herself making a list of things that needed to do. How was she going to go shopping with a man who had no knowledge of the 21st century? She laughed at the thought before getting ready for the day.

…

When she woke up she couldn't help but notice that her apartment was cleaner than when she left it last night. She looked around for Steve only to find him washing her dishes.

"You don't have to do that, you know." She called out softly.

Steve didn't even flinch, instead finished the last dish before putting it to dry. Slowly, like in those commercials he turned around and smiled at her, in a way that made her flush at how domestic he was. It was almost unfair how put together he looked with simply wearing the same clothes as last night.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked kindly.

"I did. Thank you for…" she made hand movements in hopes of understanding.

It was his turn to flush at her awkwardness. He nodded and ran his fingers through his hair self-consciously.

"You're welcome. I-I do this to be useful after all I am invading your space."

"Oh you're not invading don't worry" she grinned at him hoping to avoid all insecurities. "We have plans today by the way" she added.

" _We_ do?" he asked curiously.

"Mhm" she grinned. "We have to get you clothes, shoes, all the things that you need to do get to come into the 21st Century. How does that sound?"

"Awful" he blurted honestly only to look a bit ashamed at how he didn't even think about her feelings.

Thankfully she only laughed and clapped her hands. Tess found him to be amusing simply because of his sheer honesty. There was only one man who liked to go shopping and that happened to be Tony.

"Well you need it" she commented after a while. "While I do like that shirt, I think you might need something else."

He knew she was right; there was no way that he could deal with how little he had at this time. She noticed how reluctant he was, but she paid no mind, instead she grabbed her purse, her cellphone and walked towards the door.

"Now, you can either come with me, _or_ I can get you what I think would be good on you. The question is…do you trust me?"

The glint in her eye worried him more than he cared to admit. Grabbing his shabby jacket he followed after her, pretending that her taunting laughter didn't make him smile as well.

…

Tess was pretty sure that this was a surreal experience. Walking down the street with the taller man, earned looks that she had never realized occurred. Women, men, children, would pass by them and then suddenly turn to take a longer look to the man beside her. She knew he was handsome, she was not blind, but the way they stared and more importantly the way that he didn't even notice it, surprised her; any other man would definitely preen from it. Still, as they walked, he talked softly about how things had changed than when he was "awake". That was the term they were using instead of "frozen", seemed more appropriate in her opinion.

She laughed softly as his eyes trailed toward the food stands and she pulled him the way so he could get the Hot Dogs, pretzels and peanuts. He seemed taken with the warm pretzels and she did not blame him.

"You don't want one?" he asked as he held the warm pretzel she just paid for.

"No, I'm full from the kebab back on 43rd street" she laughed softly. But as he waved the pretzel slightly, she bit back a grin before pulling a small piece from his and dipped it in cheese before munching on it. He seemed proud of making her do such a small gesture and it made something in her twist.

As they went through the streets, she learned a few things about him. For one thing, he was not shy, well not in the way that people were shy now. He did not shy away about talking, but only talked when necessary. Everything he said had a meaning behind it, and it wasn't bullshitting to save face or time. She liked that about him, especially because she did most of the talking, and he listened. He listened about her talk about the subways growth and when she explained the map. He listened when she spoke about Queens and how it had changed since he was living there. He listened when she explained what her job was without trying to confuse him. What she didn't know was that he was also staring. He stared at her when she waved her hands around animatedly talking about her job and how her eyes shined with joy and pride. He watched as her eyes lingered at the violinists playing classical music and how her hands twitched as the notes changed. He watched as she looked longingly as a couple snuggled in the subway. She had many layers and he couldn't help but doubt that this was how all people were now in the 21st century.

"This is our stop" she commented before getting up.

He merely followed her and smiled softly as she told him about how excited to shop for someone that wasn't her, and how shopping for "guys" would be a lot easier. He merely followed dutifully taking the modern world. He thought he heard something like bells ringing but as he looked around he must have imagined it.

"Come on!" she tugged his hand as people began to rush them.

…

The moment they had entered the store, he was pulled away from her and thrown into a changing room. The ladies and men alike were excited to dress him and they had Tess just sit down and wait for them to do their magic. She knew that they wanted to play around with the handsome man that came in and she didn't blame them. Instead, she found herself waiting patiently, and texting Tony asking for a few days off, which he obliged easily. Now she waited patiently for the runway show to appear, and pretended not to be excited to see what they did to him.

When he walked out, she could hear from his shuffling that he wasn't too happy and she could see why. The skinny jeans, and the too tight shirt were amazing to stare at but not appropriate for the man who was all about propriety. As he looked at her unsure, she shook her head no. He nodded and walked back inside. This went over a few times with each time, getting progressively more amusing. The Ken doll act really had to stop. Getting up, she began to skim the store and she found something she assumed he would like. The simply blue button down, a tan jacket and normal jeans seemed more appropriate for him.

"Captain?" she called out as she search for the changing room.

"Here" he called out.

As she pulled the curtain, she pretended not to care that he was shirtless, she really did. He looked embarrassed to have her look at him, but before he could say anything she shoved the clothes his way and left before her cheeks exploded in splotchy red color. Her hands were pleading for her cheeks to cool down when she heard him come out.

"Well?" he asked.

As he walked towards her, the dark wash jeans, and the blue button down just accentuated his eyes in a way that left her a bit distracted. He looked at her questioning the silence, but all that she could think of, especially as he put on the jacket was –

"Yes"

"Yes?" he repeated a bit amused.

"Yes" she nodded before turning around and rushing to the store clerk.

By the time he reached her he heard the snippets of the conversation. Tess had given her address for similar styles and variety would be delivered to her home at the end of the day. He had to say that he was thankful for her patience and understanding, but more importantly, to know that she was just as shy and a bit awkward like he was.

"We're done?" he couldn't help but hide the glee in his questions.

She crinkled her nose in amusement and nodded.

"Yeah, let's go. I don't know about you but the street food wasn't enough. Let's go get something else."

….

Their walk led them to Central Park. She immediately pulled him to get Nathan's and they sat on the stairs as they chatted over the little things. Steve appreciated her and how she listened as he told her about Bucky, about his mom and everything. The only name he didn't dare talk about was Peggy. It still stung to talk about her, but he knew when he was ready, perhaps she would be the person to talk to.

"You have mustard on your cheek" he blurted out.

She cursed softly and attempted to wipe her cheek, only to miss. He shook his head and signaled where it was only for her to miss again. Without even thinking about it, he swiped his thumb against her cheek and cleaned it. His hand rested for a bit on her soft cheek as she stared at him a bit wide-eyed.

"Sorry" he said.

"I'm such a slob" she laughed softly and the awkwardness was broken as both began to chuckle at her sloppiness.

While the sun set, both took in the sights before deciding to head back to the apartment and have some rest.

...

 _Two Weeks Later…_

Steve had slowly invaded every aspect of Tess' life and she did not mind it. She found that they had created a routine that she had no problem with. In the mornings, he had breakfast ready and they had breakfast together, before she rushed off to work. While she was gone, Steve spent time in front of the television watching documentaries or the news and catching up on the world. She found it charming how much he wanted to learn. In the evening when she came in, she found dinner ready and they sat down to either eat at her round table or in front of the television for another documentary. Their domesticity was something Tess always wanted and she was charmed by his kindness.

Saturday mornings were always the best because it meant that she was not going to work. Steve would not care to admit aloud, but he enjoyed living with the young woman. She was tidy; she kept to herself when necessary but was very supportive to him integrating himself with the 21st century. She patiently taught him how to use the television so while she was out he could do as he pleased. She also introduced him to her elderly neighbor who was in her nineties.

As nicely as Tess could, she explained to the old woman named Ruth that Steve would be living with her and that if she needed anything Steve would kindly help. It turned out that Tess would make meals and take care of the older woman in her spare time, making her seem to seem more giving in his eyes. She was a complicated young lady and Steve was glad to be considered a friend. As he spoke more with Ruth, the truth spilled about his past. Ruth took it in stride and they spoke about the old times as they both watched television together while Tess was out.

At the moment, Tess was showering and Steve comfortably sat on the couch, shirtless and with pajama pants watching another documentary about the sixties. He could not help but be surprised about how things were during that time and he could only imagine how he would have taken it had he been alive then. He loved delving and learning about anything he could, and in turn, the pain of his past life and especially of Peggy lessened a bit. He still wasn't ready to tell Tess about Peggy, but he could tell that she knew something was up.

A knock on the door distracted his thoughts and he got up to get it. When he opened the door, whatever the man wanted, clearly he was not it. The younger man had messy black hair, green eyes and held slightly wilted flowers in his hand, a box of chocolates, and an angry expression on his face.

"Who are _you_?" the stranger asked him angrily.

"I could ask you the same thing." Steve said calmly. "Can I help you with something?"

"Where is she?" the stranger asked angrily. "Where the hell is she?"

Steve was surprised by the tone and he did not appreciate it if it was directed to him or to Tess.

"I don't know who 'she' is, but can we start off by knowing who you are?"

"My name is Ben and I'm the boyfriend of the girl who lives in this apartment. Let me in!" his voice got progressively higher.

"I don't think so, not until I get your name and reason for being here" Steve gripped the door tighter.

"My name is Ben, I'm not surprised that she didn't tell you about me. She's many things, but stupid is not one of them. Tess!"

 _"Steve? Whose at the door?"_

Steve dreaded what was to come. When he attempted to calm her down, this stranger, Ben began to yell over him demanding that he see her.

"What is going on?" her voice was filled with annoyance and worry. And the moment Steve saw her; he knew that this was getting progressively worse. Her hair was wet, and she was letting it air dry. She wore a long shirt, and probably a pair of shorts that he deemed really short once upon a time. Now that was just her typical Saturday outfit. As soon as she saw the man at the doorstep she grew even more annoyed.

"What are you doing here?" she asked crossing her arms.

"What do you mean? I should be asking who this tool is, that is not letting me in. Tell your blockhead that I can come in."

"No" Tess immediately answered. "He is not a tool or a blockhead, and you are not coming in. You have no reason to be here."

"I'm your boyfriend!"

"No you're not, you haven't been for three months and don't you dare think you can just come here and possess me like I'm an object."

"So all that talk about us being together forever was bullshit? I mean come on, I would get it if it was Tony, at least I called it a mile away, but this asshole?"

"Excuse me, you have no right to speak to me that way, you do not know me" Steve said keeping his tone even.

"You shut up Ben! You have no ownership of me, and we are nothing. You don't deserve to be jealous after you slept with Kimberly."

"How would you know?"

"The whole neighborhood knows! And I don't care, we are broken up and you have no right to make a scene at my door. Steve, please close that door."

As Steve attempted to do so, Ben pushed and came face to face with Steve.

"Tell me, how fast did you manage to get into her pants? Did she basically throw her virginity your way? I wouldn't be surprised."

The last thing that Steve saw was Tess covering her mouth as a gasp was emitted and her eyes filling her tears, before he blacked out for a brief second.

…

A groan, and a scream brought his attention back to the scene as Tess was wrapped around his arm as Ben was groaning on the floor, his nose clearly broken. He was angry, but as Tess' voice begged for him to let the younger boy go he found himself wishing to stop her sadness.

"Don't ever come back here" Steve warmed evenly to the boy before slamming the door closed.

Tess did not let go and she shook in mortification. Steve had no clue if things had changed in terms of promiscuity, but as the younger girl was wiped tears, he pulled her into a hug and allowed her to apologize profusely as she wet his shirt. Her virginity was something that she held onto tightly not because of society or propriety, but rather the fear of it being used against her, and she was right. The boy that had once claimed to love her used it in a mean spiteful way that was clearly untrue. She was glad she never slept with Ben.

"Sorry" she whispered softly. "I wet your shirt."

"Don't worry, you made sure I have more than just this one. Now come on, how about we get ready for the day?" He wiped her cheeks and she gave him a wobbly smile.

"I thought you wanted to stay in" she murmured avoiding his gaze.

"After what happened, I think we shouldn't allow something as crummy as that to ruin the day. What was this about how Coney Island has even better hot dogs?"

The laugh that came from her made him grin and she nodded before pulling back. She grabbed his hand tightly and managed to look up at him.

"You're amazing. Thank you" she whispered and kissed his hand before rushing to her room in talks of changing. At that moment, Steve swore he heard bells ringing again. But sure enough, nothing was there; instead he found himself going to change for the day as well.

….

Monday morning meant that Tess had to leave earlier than usual. As he handed her an apple and wished her a good day, he knew it was one of those longer days for her. He had yet to really know where she worked, but from what she was saying she was working on something secretive that was very important. Looking out the window, he noticed that she looked up at their window briefly, only to make eye contact with him. She was surprised for a second, but soon a smile erupted on her face and she waved briefly before slipping into her taxi for the day. This was nice, and something he definitely could get used to having. The domesticity was nice, and the friendship that was growing with the young girl made him think that this happened for a reason.

Moving forward with his day, Steve found himself making repair enhancements to her…no _their_ apartment. For one thing, he fixed the leaking sinks, the window she complained about, and the pantry door that squeaked loudly. He liked being helpful in his own way to her. He had promised her that as soon as he could, and would get used to the world around him, he would find a job and get out of her hair. That had caused her to frown and soon told him that she wanted him to stay with her. _'That is if you want to stay here"_ she added hastily. That had made him relieved and he had reassured her that he would stay and would help her when he could. She was an angel sometimes.

He was finishing up the tightening of the window when a knock was at the door. Opening it, he found himself looking at the woman he had completely forgotten about: Natasha Romanov.

"Good Afternoon Captain, I see that you're transitioning nicely." She greeted. "Can I come in?"

He said nothing instead moved aside to let her in. She made herself at home by sitting on the couch and waited for him to come to her. He did as she gestured and sat down across from her.

"How can I help you?" he asked curiously.

"Well Captain, I have to tell you that S.H.I.E.L.D. has requested that you move to a classified location we call 'The Retreat' so you are able to start training and transitioning to the 21st century."

"I am transitioning just fine here thank you, and I do not wish to leave."

"So you wouldn't leave under any circumstances?" Natasha looked at him curiously.

He looked down at his hands briefly before making eye contact once more. "I would leave if Miss Holmes requested"

"Miss Holmes?" she snorted, "after this time you still call her that?"

"I call her that to those I do not know very well" it was clear in his tone that he did not trust her. Natasha smiled slightly.

"What if I told you that she was my friend? You know she is not some innocent lamb that does some simple secretarial job. She works with weapons, creates machines, artificial life, and works with dangerous materials, yet in your tone you think she does simple work? Does she even tell you what she does?"

"She is a scientist, and inventor and I trust her in the sense that I know she does not do anything malicious."

"How can you say that so confidently?" she laughed softly.

"I have to say that I do not think you are friends if that's what you think of her. I think, with all due respect, _you_ do not know _her._ "

"Touché" she admitted, "I merely wish to see what your opinions are. What if I told you that she is assigned to go to 'The Retreat' as well? Then would you come?"

"I would have to hear it from her lips to know that you are not lying." He admitted.

Natasha had to admit, at the way he spoke, the conviction in his tone made her realize that the young girl sprouted loyalty from the people around her. While he waited for her response, she merely smiled.

"You are more than free to talk to her. Just note that we will be leaving tomorrow. Perhaps catching her during lunch would be a good time."

Getting up, she did not even greet him as she closed the door behind her and left him alone with his thoughts.

…

"No. How many times do I have to tell you, that we need a proper polymer to mimic the sensory capabilities that I am talking to you about? I am talking about a metal, and some silicone. We cannot invest in some cheap polymer that promises nothing"

Her heels clicked down the hallway as she refused to sign off on the deal that they were offering. She found that so long as she faked being Tony while negotiating, it was doable. For example, if she did not want to deal with something, she would simply do the "Tony" thing and walk away from the problem. Tony found it very amusing as she had explained it to him over coffee this morning.

It was that morning that he commented how little he had seen of her and how she had rushed home every evening. The flushed expression that she had shown gave him the wrong expression and he had gleefully teased her all day about her boyfriend. Even Pepper couldn't help but tease her about it, saying how she was glad that someone special came her way. Both had made it clear that they hoped it was not Ben, much to her mortification. Once she assured them that she did not have a boyfriend and that it was _not_ Ben, they were relieved, but did not quite believe the first part.

"Miss Holmes," Mary the receptionist called out to her.

Tess smiled briefly before walking her way and waved goodbye to the man she had no interest in talking anymore. As she reached the older woman in her sixties, she noticed that she looked excited and looked like she had a secret.

"What is it Mary? Did you need something? Did Tony call?"

"No Miss" she giggled. "We have someone at the lobby looking for you. A _handsome_ man waiting for you; he asked if you had already gone to lunch and I assured him that you had not. So…I believe your lunch date is here?"

Tess looked confused for a second before she figured who it might be.

"Did he say his name to you Mary?"

"No Miss, but if you're dating someone like that and you forgot his name, please send him my way" she giggled.

"Mary!" she couldn't help but laugh as well. "I think I know who it is."

She ignored the slight nervousness as she went down the elevator and towards the lobby. The doors dinged open and she found herself walking a bit quicker in hopes of reaching the 'handsome' stranger. When she saw the tall man, she found herself smiling; he had no clue that she was even there, instead he was taking in the modern building itself. But as he turned to face her and a smile lit his face, Tess swore bells rung around them. She looked around briefly and realized that was not possible.

"You're visiting me?" she asked softly as she got closer.

"Well, I had to see what your job was about, but I'm more interested in taking you to lunch" he grinned.

"You're taking _me_ to lunch?"

"I am" he grinned, "see it turns out, when you leave some money in a bank account and almost seventy years go by, the interest rate is pretty fantastic. So, what do you say, can you come along for lunch with me?" when he gave her a lopsided grin she found herself forgetting about whatever plans she had made.

"I'd love to" she breathed out.

As he gentlemanly wrapped his arm around hers and walked out the building with her, both were oblivious to the stares that the receptionists were giving them. It was clear that whatever this was, it was the start.

"They're so cute" Mary swooned.

"I know, have you seen her smile that way to any man that's come her way?" Stephanie giggled.

"Not even to Mr. Stark" Mary replied with her own giggle.

" _What about me?"_

"Mr. Stark!" Both cried in surprise.

Tony seemed unfazed by their tone, instead looked amused at what gossip he caught. As he removed his glasses and took them both in he slowly smiled.

"Now my lovely ladies, what is the good gossip? Something that I need to know?"

As both women began to talk about Tess and the young stranger, Tony had to admit he was relieved to hear that he wasn't crazy and there was someone special for her. He was glad, she deserved some happiness and he could only hope that he could meet the man soon.


	11. War with Gods

**_Author's Note:_** _Thank you for the follows! I am not quite sure about this chapter, but it's necessary to move the story along. Please tell me what you think. Thank you!_

 ** _The American Dream_**

 ** _Chapter 11: War with Gods_**

Tess ignored the slight flutter in her stomach as they walked hand in hand through the streets of New York. She tried to it as best as possible, but as the sun hit the man beside her, and he smiled brightly as he showed her something, she felt her face flush. Did he even realize how perfect he was? In one moment he was gallant, a gentleman, who greatly respected her. And he sure did respect her, especially when he defended her honor in front of Ben. She felt a tension in her stomach and she tried to ignore it as best she could. It sting stung, but as he pulled her to avoid a puddle, she laughed softly and found herself to think it was for the best.

"Where's the pizza place?" she asked suddenly.

"Pizza?" Steve said confused, "Do you think that's all I'll feed you?"

"There's also hot dogs" she teased.

Steve laughed softly and squeezed her hand before turning on 42nd and they headed to a small restaurant. As they entered he smiled at the older man who was in on something and he walked them over to a reserved table. As they sat down Tess was impressed at how he had this planned. She did not want to over think this; she did not want to assume his intentions as an actual date. But as he talked and he narrated his day, she tilted her head and found herself smiling brighter. He made her happy, that much was clear, and whether he knew it or not, he was very hard to resist.

"What do you want?" he asked when he noticed she wasn't talking much.

She looked a bit taken aback but as she put in her order he knew that what he was asking for would be hard. For one thing, he would be asking her to do something major and well, it was a bit embarrassing to know that he did depend on her. She was marvelous and in her own way. His conversation with Natasha had made him take the decision.

"What's on your mind Steve?" she asked softly.

"What makes you think that I have something to tell you?"

"So…this is a date?" Steve felt himself flush slightly as a small smile began to bloom on her face. It was a very teasing smile, one that did something funny in him.

"Well….no…I mean not that I wouldn't…but you see"

"Steve, just breathe" she reached over and put her hand over his in hopes of calming him down. Maybe her teasing was a bit much.

"Sorry" he admitted softly, "but well there was something on my mind."

She did not interrupt him, and he did appreciate it. He knew this wouldn't be easy.

"You see, Natasha went to our apartment and well…she told me a few things." He began as best he could.

"Things?" she repeated.

"Things…she wants me to go for a while." Steve trailed off and noticed how she looked upset. A part of him was happy that she showed her displeasure, but he knew there was more. "She wants me to adjust in fighting and everything and well…I don't exactly know how long it will be."

"When are you going?"

"Tomorrow" he admitted, but he couldn't help but ask what he desperately wanted. "Come with me." He was the one that reached out and grabbed her hand, the meal forgotten.

Her breath hitched and Tess did not know exactly what to say to this. She knew that the moment she would have said yes, of course she would go with him. Why wouldn't she? But she stopped herself because or how irresponsible it all was. To leave her job behind, to stop her work on projects for an undisclosed amount of time? There was only so much Tony would allow her to leave for, and she didn't feel comfortable just throwing it all for… _friendship?_

 _'Only friendship?'_ her mind echoed amused by the thought.

"I want to" she admitted, "I really do but I can't-"

He pulled back and nodded. "I am sorry I asked."

"Don't be, you don't understand" she interrupted him. "I want to, but the project I am working is not something I can put a pause on. I wouldn't be forgiven if I just left. But if I could I would have gone with you, understand that."

The sincerity she showed made him believe her. He knew how selfish he acted by telling her to leave with him, but he did it anyway. But she had a life before him, a career that flourished and he was still playing catch up. He smiled though tightly and he saw her relax. Their lunch continued for half an hour before she was forced to leave for work once more.

"Will you still be in the apartment when I get home?" she asked as they walked back.

"I think so." He shrugged.

She stopped in front of her work building and stared at him, still unsure as to what to say. But she figured actions were a bit better than anything. Puckering up as much courage as she could she wrapped her arms around him and hid her face. She knew he was surprised by her actions too, but he wrapped his arms around her nonetheless.

"I'll miss you" she said softly.

"Oh come on, it won't be more than a week" he laughed softly, but rested his chin on her head. "I'll see you at home."

…

 _Two Months Later…_

Tess threw her keys on the counter and sighed as she noticed how eerily quiet it was. It turns out that he was wrong about a lot of things: for one, they did not see each other after their lunch date; apparently time was of the essence. Secondly, it was not a week but rather months. She could not communicate with him and she was too afraid to ask Natasha any information about him. All of this caused her to pour herself into her job as much as possible. Her project was a simple one: his suit. She knew sometimes was coming when she began to restructure his suit. The metal and silicone mix she was looking for was for his suit and the moment she finished the suit disappeared from her lab.

Tony had also been dragged into a new project as well. She knew he wasn't exactly supposed to know about the Avengers Initiative, but he never was good about keeping secrets. Speaking on the devil, her phone began to ring.

"Hi Tony" she said as she allowed her phone to be connected to the large audio system.

"Hey, so check out what I found in this research"

Before she could tell him that she couldn't see anything, her room began to glow blue as the blueprints began to be projected. Before her were all the videos of members who they were interested in for the Avengers. Her first thought was that she needed to change the locks:

"You broke into my apartment again didn't you?"

"You make it seem so shady when you say it like that, plus I have the keys."

"Remind me to change the locks" she commented shaking her head as she began to look around at the videos.

Her eyes traveled from the brilliant Bruce Banner, who she remembered destroyed New York when he initially transformed into the Hulk, to Hawkeye, who she had the pleasure to meet. Her eyes set on one person only; Steve Rogers. There were images of him during the war, the battles, the shows, the people surrounding him. She couldn't help but pay closer attention to the woman that stood to talk to him and he looked somewhat smitten. She had never seen that expression on his face and she realized that maybe there was more to his past he cared to admit. In the midst of all of this she realized Tony had been speaking.

"-and not play well with others. Can you believe that, me?" he sounded so offended.

"I can actually" she smirked trying to push foreign feelings away and instead take in all the information.

"So this is actually moving forward? I thought this had been paused because of the variables."

"Well it's a thing now, and I'm dragged into this. So come over so we can start researching"

"We? What do you mean we?"

"Well Pepper is in DC so I figured you should come over."

She wanted to say yes immediately, but she knew that she was no real asset to the initiative. She was not a hero, nor trained to do anything powerful, she wasn't special.

"I think I'll hold down the fort Tony" she nodded to herself. "I don't want to get in the way, nor jeopardize anything. Plus we have that important meeting we need to prep for."

"Are you seriously saying no?"

"Guess so. Be safe Tony, and call me if you need anything. Anything _important."_

"You're no fun sometimes" Tony huffed.

"Love you too Tony."

…

 _Stuttgart, Germany_

Well she sure felt exposed; as she turned her back to the mirror she noted how low the cut was, barely stopping on her lower back. Her hair was pulled up in a bun styled to look like little effort was made. It made no sense considering how many stylists attacked her to get the look together. Her lips were bright red, and cat eyeliner made her feel more dangerous than she actually was. Slipping on her stilettos, she knew that this was going to be one hell of a night.

Pepper was unavailable, still stuck in D.C. arguing over the idea of ownership of their machinery. Tony was indisposed doing whatever he was doing, so he had shipped her off to Germany, upset at her denying him what he wanted. Of course she would attend the Gala. The Gala was about the sharpest minds in the world to attend to speak about their works and honor those who had done so much in the studies of arts and sciences. In her mind though, she was just a pretty face that scouted for new partners for business to grow under Stark Industries.

Walking up the stairs, she was greeted by the footmen who led her into the large building. She had to admit that there were worse things bosses would do then send their protégés to another country. The party began and she drank a flute of champagne as she heard people speak about their thoughts on politics and the way that the world could improve. She had never been surrounded by people that were so incredibly cultured. She felt out of place, but tried to take it in stride and taking longer sips of champagne. Her eyes strayed from the man who spoke about the art piece at the center of the room and noticed a tall man walking in with a purpose. He looked very put together, his hair slicked back, his cane gripped tightly and his blue eyes shining with something uneasy behind them. She was not used to seeing people like that, and when he moved to the doorman for the announcement, me immediately hurt him.

Tess, like the other guests gasped in surprised, even more so as the stranger pulled the presenter onto the art piece and laid him flat. No one moved to stop him and she herself had nothing that could even help. It only got worse as he pulled out a machine of sorts and stabbed the man in the eye. Many cried out and began to run, she herself froze for only a moment, until she realized she needed to get out of there.

She dug for her cellphone and began to dial, only to be sent to voicemail. She cursed softly. Of course Tony wouldn't answer and lord know how long it would take for him to arrive, but she needed him. As she ran up the stairs, she began to dial Natasha who might have someone closer, but again no one answered. People ran, and the police sirens were heard, maybe this wouldn't be so bad. That is until she realized he was walking towards them. His suit changed into one that resembled a costume quality. Large golden horns appeared and his cane became a scepter of sorts. When he lifted his scepter, the police cars flipped over almost as in by magic.

"Kneel before me!" he called out and disappeared only to re-appear in different locations.

"He's rounding us up" she murmured as the people moved closer to one another. She cursed and decided perhaps it was safer inside the building again. She rushed only to crash into the man she had been avoiding. He gripped her arm tightly and she fought back, only for him to pull her closer.

"I said, Kneel!" he yelled and threw her towards the crowd. People thankfully grabbed her before she would tumble over to a more serious injury. A blue light shined through and everyone did as asked immediately.

He smiled viciously. "Is this not simpler?" he began, "is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble of power for identity."

Tess glared at the man in front of her. He thought so little of them, almost as if he wasn't human to begin with. Many lowered her gaze and she could not believe it. She knew it was foolish to stand, but she bit her tongue and slid her hands down to her purse once more hoping to turn on her locator for someone to come. Even if something did happen to her, at least someone might rescue the survivors. She attempted to do so, that is when a cold hand gripped her chip and made her look up at him. He had noticed and immediately placed his foot on her curse, making her jump from it. His grip was hard on her face but he continued.

"You were made to be ruled; in the end, you will always kneel." His voice grew louder in volume and she winced.

"Not to men like you" a frail voice stood up to him. His grip on her cheek lessened as he walked towards the old man. She turned to see an elderly man stand up amidst the fear and make eye contact on the stranger.

"There are no men like me" the man said scoffing.

The elder shook his head and stared at him, shoulders straight. "There are always men like you"

Something in the air shifted and Tess grew tense. This was not someone who would take something like this lightly; she even suspected he was not like anyone they had ever met. Not human. The stranger smiled and lifted his arms wide as if he would embrace the elder.

"Look to your elder people. Let him be an example" and as light began to build on the scepter, it was clear the man was done for.

"No" she whispered shocked at the cruelty.

As the energy beam shot out, a bright light came and blinded everyone. Tess looked away as tears rose in her eyes at the thought of the poor man dying for his beliefs. Just how inhumane was this man?

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing"

That voice. Tess turned and found herself crying as she saw Steve. He had protected the elder with his shield and she found herself incredibly relieved. He looked so different in the suit and so much like a different person with the intensity in his eyes. He had knocked the stranger down, but he stood right back up immediately.

"The soldier. A man out of time."

Captain laughed softly. "I'm not the one who's out of time"

Before anyone realized what happened, a massive jet appeared and a machine gun was pointing towards the criminal.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down."

 _'Loki'_ Tess repeated wondering where she had heard that name before. But as it was clear the guns were about to go off and Steve ran to attack Loki, everyone began to disburse. She found herself running towards the building hoping to avoid any streets as possible. But as she heard her phone ring from across the floor , she knew it was Tony. Running across the people, and avoiding al the fighting, she found herself throwing her heels to the side and diving to reach for her phone. Turning on her locator was enough to help him. She looked to see how it was going, but as Loki threw Steve down and asked him to kneel, she grew worried about his safety.

Suddenly music began to boom, and not just any music. She knew it was 'Shoot to Thrill' and very much Tony. She found herself laughing, as he found them, everything would be okay.

"Did you all miss me?" his voice was clear.

As he shot Loki down, Tess saw no more need to run.

"Make your move Reindeer Games"

Slowly Loki's outfit began to dematerialize and he held his hands up to surrender. Everything was fine, everyone was safe and Tess allowed herself to breathe. The heroes in her life stared at one another and it was Tony who shot the proper equipment to keep the criminal down.

"Guys!" She yelled.

Both men turned to look at her, but only one went over to hug her immediately. Tony pulled her close only to pull back as she cried out as the metal hit her chest. He turned her around checking for any injuries as Steve stayed close to Loki.

"You look nice" Tony teased as he twirled her. "Even barefoot you clean up nice"

"I took them off" she huffed, "it hurts to kneel when you're in heels"

His eyes hardened and he lightly touched her cheek. There were indent marks from where Loki had gripped her.

"You okay?" he asked,

"Yeah" she whispered "you're both here"

Before he could ask what he meant, Natasha called them from the intercom signaling it was time to come up and landed the jet for them to enter. As they threw Loki in the seat and tied him up to another level of security, Tess could not help but think that this was entirely too easy. Tony assured her everything was fine.

As she sat at the back of the plane and Tony went forward to talk to Natasha, she was finally semi-alone with Steve. It felt weird, seeing him again in that outfit. She hadn't seen him like this since he was last found in the ice.

"Thank you" she whispered softly.

It was then he truly look at her. Her hair was disheveled and had fallen from it's bun, and her dress was dirty from the ground; her bare feet wiggled on the cold metal floor of the plane, but all he saw was that she was safe.

"I'm glad you're safe." He said and kneeled down in front of her. "Is he-"

"My boss" she explained and gave him a lopsided smile. "And my best friend, my big brother, my first hero"

"Your first hero?" he repeated.

"You're my second favorite hero" she teased.

Before he could even realize what she was saying, he was pulled into a hug. She hugged him tightly and murmured how she had missed him during his time away. He had to admit he felt the same. While he did miss her, the time away helped him train once more, build and work the muscle that he had forgotten while he lounged on the sofa with her those Saturday mornings.

"Wait" she murmured.

Be pulled back confused at her antics that is until she pulled the mask away from his face and smiled.

"I missed your face" When her hands rested on his cheeks, he found himself blushing as she teased him about being a real hero now." So much for our couch potato weekends."

"I wouldn't trade those days" he admitted and it was her turn to flush slightly.

"Hey lovebirds, keep an eye out for that creep" Tony called from the front of the plane.

Tess glared as he embarrassed both Steve and her, but said nothing. Instead both sat beside one another and played catch up. It was only until later that Tony went back to them.

"I don't like it"

"I don't like it either" she agreed.

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony interrupted.

"I don't remember it being ever that easy. This guy packs a wallop" Steve admitted.

"Still, you are pretty spry, for an older fellow" he glared as Tess pushed him. "What's your thing Pilates?" he continued to joke.

"What?" Steve didn't understand and Tess was embarrassed at Tony's immaturity.

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle" He gaze Steve a lazy grin.

Tess found herself disappointed at his immaturity and at how little he cared about being sensitive to Steve's situation. She wanted to be angry but at this point she knew that there were multiple reasons for Tony to be like this. For one, he had not been officially invited to the 'party' as he would call it. He was asked to merely research but not be a part of the Avengers, which in her mind was stupid. Secondly, she knew that he was mad at how she had reacted when she saw Steve. It didn't take a genius to realize that quite possibly, Steve and her knew one another and reunited after their initial meeting. Tony was always a grudge-holder like that and she found herself knowing that she had caused that.

"Tony please" Tess begged.

"Romanoff might need your help in the front" Tony signaled her. She knew that this meant that he was going to argue with Steve, and she was not going to choose sides. At least that's what she told herself before walking away. She ignored the gaze that Loki put on her. That is until the jet began to shake.

"A storm? Where is that coming from?"

The large amount of thunder began and it rocked the jet considerably. Tess was knocked over on the side of the jet. Loki huffed as she crashed into him and nudged her over much to her horrified expression. Rather than comment he stared out the window intently.

"What's the matter" Steve called out. "Scared of a little lightening"

Tess was surprised at the teasing, that is until Loki turned to face him and spoke for the first time since captured.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows"

Before anyone could question anything, a thump overhead on the jet signaled that they were not alone. Tess stared intently and Tony nodded signaling that he knew what was to come. As he grabbed his helmet and placed it on, he was going to stop whatever was happening.

"What are you doing?" Steve yelled as Tony opened the hatch of the jet to head out.

Before he could leave a large man appeared in full gear. His long blonde hair waved around and he hit Tony with the hammer he held. Tess felt helpless as Tony crashed into Steve, knocking them both over. Before anyone could do anything, the large man grabbed Loki by the throat and flew out of the jet leaving everyone dumbfounded.

"Now there's that guy" Tony huffed feeling a bit shaken by the hit.

"Another Asgardian?"

"Asgardian?" Tess repeated, "As in that Loki wasn't just some lunatic but actually a God?!" There was absolutely no way that this was true. Were all the mythologies true?

"We have to get him" Tony began, "if he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesserect is lost."

Before any plan could be made, Tony dove right after them.

"Stark!" Steve yelled out. "We need a plan of attack!"

Tony turned to face them all and Tess swore he was smiling behind his helmet.

"I have a plan of attack Captain. To simply Attack" before chasing after the stranger.

Tess shook her head knowing that Tony was thrilled with the idea of a battle. As she trailed after Steve she noticed he was busy grabbed a parachute and strapping it on his body.

"Don't do it" she said immediately gripping his shield. "It's too dangerous, Tony can do it."

"I agree with her. I'd sit this one out Cap" Natasha yelled from the driver's seat.

"I don't see how I can" He said defying both of them.

"These guys are basically Gods" Natasha continued.

"Please Steve" Tess begged, "They're basically legends!"

"Tess I'll be fine" he said before taking the shield from her. "And for the record, there is only one God ma'am and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."

Before she could yell for him to stop, he jumped out of the jet and fell into the dark thunderous skies that surrounded them. Then there Tess stood, alone and worried over the two men that had wormed their way into her life. She did not know just how dangerous this mission was, but this seemed a lot worse than anything she'd seen.

"Hey Princess" Natasha called out. "How about getting out of that dress and making yourself useful."

Tess turned to look at her friend and nodded. Natasha pointed towards a black box in the background and she did not need to say anything more. When the box was opened, she found the cat suit, some weapons and the serum that she had avoided taking for a long time.

"Suit up honey, because this isn't going to be a walk in the park"

And she did just that. Throwing her dress to the side, she slipped into the bodysuit as quickly as she could. She only stopped to take out the needle and allow the blue serum to seep into her veins. She shuddered as she felt her whole body cry in pleasure at feeling the power once more. Her eyes shined in a wholly irregular gold and her body arched as the adrenaline hit every cell. Zipping up the suit all the way, she threw herself on the second seat in the front with Natasha and her fingers rushed through the keyboard in hopes of locating the Norse Gods that were now their enemies. Her fingers shook and she shuddered knowing this was no longer just a cat and mouse game, this could potentially mean war.


	12. Something'a There

**_Author's Note:_** _Thank you for the follows! I am not quite sure about this chapter, but it's necessary to move the story along. Please tell me what you think. Thank you!_

 ** _The American Dream_**

 ** _Chapter 12:_** _Something's There_

Sitting in the helicopter as Natasha attempted to find the location of the men below made Tess realize that this was a lot. Less than two hours ago she was sipping champagne, laughing with intellectuals and feeling like an actual attractive being. It's funny how quickly things change. As her fingers rushed through the keyboard, attempting to get the proper coordinates, only for the electricity storm to jumble everything.

"Any luck?" Natasha asked as she moved the ship to a lower height.

"None, the storm is messing with the coordinates. What the hell is going on?"

"That Loki fellow stole something we need, and I'm not to sure where his brother lies."

"Thor" Tess murmured, "so all that mumbo-jumbo is real? Is all mythology now real?"

Her tone trailed off as she saw a bright light below them. Pressing herself against the window she pointed.

"There! I swear I saw some lights coming from that-"

Her sentence never ended as a large wave hit from the forest and rocked everyone over.

"Got it" Natasha then dove down to land the ship as needed. Tess felt jittery as it landed wanting to make sure her boys were okay. Signaled by Natasha, Tess rushed outside to see what the damage was. Her running sort of halted as she noticed the damage that was done. The trees lay flat for miles around and she found herself wondering if she needed some weapons with her.

"I don't know if I'm sad that the naked back is gone for the night, or the fact that you've giving me a great view" Tony called out as he walked towards them.

Tess turned and grinned ignoring his blatant teasing over her appearance. She spun slightly to make him amused before heading over and assessing the damage of the suit.

"It's not as bad as it looks" he said and both knew that they were lying.

"Hm…where's –"

"Your boyfriend? He's on his way with those freaks in capes" he interrupted with a knowing tone.

"He's not my boyfriend" she growled and shoved him somewhat.

She knew that Tony was displeased, she only hoped that he wouldn't make it a big deal at this time.

"When we get into this ship, you and I are going to have a long conversation about all of this."

"Will we have time to even work on your suit?" She purposely ignored his gaze.

"Don't get cute with me Bunny" As Tony said this; he lifted her chin so they could make eye contact. "I am not happy with you."

"I'll get over it as will you" she responded feeling annoyed at him looking like he had a moral high ground with her.

….

Steve attempted to keep the peace even during the argument. This is what caused him to speak with Thor as civilly as possible, while Stark moved ahead refusing to speak. He could not help but be frustrated at how obtuse the man was.

"We do apologize for the damage we have caused. We hold Earth with high regard you must know" Thor began.

The man was odd, but had a sense of heroism that Steve could admire. He would not trust easily, but he knew a good man when he saw one. He was going to respond, that is until he saw the ship had landed and beside it was Tess. She looked absolutely different, with a suit that was similar to Ms. Romanov's and her hair was up. What bothered him was the way that Stark was talking to her. Even from far away he noticed that he was not pleased with her and she was uncomfortable.

"Is everything okay? Are we ready to go?" He called out.

As both turned to face him, Tess smiled at him in a way that was sincere, but hit the pain in her eyes over something that was said. He glanced at Stark annoyed before walking over with Thor and Loki behind them.

"I should properly introduce myself" Thor began. "Miss, I do apologize for any fear that I might have caused you, but as you could understand it was a family issue I felt I needed to take responsibility for" Before anyone could say anything, Thor reached forward and kissed Tess' hand.

She flushed, in a way that made both men beside her uncomfortable. Tony shuffled and muttered something about rushing inside and Steve felt the need to agree with him. Signaling everyone to follow, the small introduction from Tess was ignored by Steve. The quicker they could get to a bigger area that had more people the better.

…

The ship had thankfully made a quick connection with a bigger ship with more security so they could move Loki in a more efficient way. They put another level of security and Natasha went to speak with more detail with Thor and the Captain followed with reluctance as he noticed that Tony was quick to pull Tess in the opposite direction.

Tess did not struggle, but she had to admit she had never felt so nervous as she did when Tony dragged her to the lab. She felt like she had betrayed his trust and it made her feel awful. The idea of not knowing how to react scared her more than she cared to admit.

"Help me out of this thing" was the first words he said to her.

Immediately she was relieved to be given something to do. She tugged some pieces that refused to come off due to the fight, and she flinched as she got a few electrical shots from the things. As soon as her best friend and mentor came out, she grabbed on of the suits arms and began to work on the station, so she could at least claim to be too busy to make eye contact.

"You know I have a right to be mad right?" Tony said as he took the other arm and began to do the same.

She was silent for a bit, and he was going to follow up to his question when she began to answer.

"I didn't think it was important? I mean…it's not like something big happened."

"You mean so all the times you daydreamed, or got distracted during a meeting was not from the ancient popsicle?" he asked and ducked down to successfully make eye contact.

Tess flushed and glared at him at his choice of words.

"I have never once been distracted during our meetings to think about someone else, and if I was distracted, it was probably because were you ranting about something unimportant to the purpose of the meeting. " she took out the circuit board and put it down to make full eye contact with him. "He's handsome okay? But so what? So are you and I'm indifferent to it."

"You think I'm handsome?" he asked fighting back a grin.

"I hate you sometimes" she huffed. "If you want the truth, Steve was assigned to me to help him assimilate to the twenty-first century by Natasha and S.H.I.E.L.D., and so he stayed in the spare room. He was a great roommate and defended me when Ben came over and said those nasty things to me" she lowered her gaze, attempting to ignore the pain. It still stung she supposed. "When Steve first woke up he was scared, and I would be too. Come on Tony he's a good guy."

"You like him don't you" Tony walked over and lifted her on the table as he put the items aside from his suit to really talk to his friend. From this angle he could not ignore the flushed appearance that rose from his question.

"It's hard to not get a crush on a person that looks like that okay?" she admitted. "He treats me nicely and is a gentleman but it's clear that he does not like me like that. There's something that…I don't know makes it clear that this is just a friend thing."

"And you don't what that?" Tony's tone softened as he noticed how uncomfortable she was. He knew he should be mad at her for keeping something from him, but as she shuffled uncomfortably and looked unsure to her own feelings he knew that this was just her trying to cope with things too.

"I don't know…it's too early?" she replied, knowing she was lying to both of them.

Steve was handsome, kind, fantastic and someone that it's hard not to fall for. That was the joke of it all, he was so perfect but she knew he sought nothing more than friendship from her. And why would he want more? She was not special, but a girl could dream right? She covered her face as she thought about him straight out rejecting her. He'd do it so kindly that she'd be so horrified and never speak to him again.

"But you think he's handsome" the tone in his voice was lighter and Tess knew she was forgiven.

"Shut up!" she replied shrilly before pulling him to a hug. From this angle of her sitting on the counter and him between her legs, they ended up being the same height. He hugged her lightly and tapped her butt signaling her to get off the counter.

"You're forgiven, but let's work on this suit alright?"

"You got it boss"

….

Transferring to the new ship or boat thing, Tess knew this was a lot bigger than she expected. She trailed behind the heroes as she took the technology in, far more advance that was out in the mass public. Everyone had agreed to meet at the conference room to discuss what to do, especially as Loki was being trapped in the ship itself.

"W-when am I being dropped off?" she asked softly.

That earned three pair of eyes to look at her. Natasha looked amused at her question, and Tony and Steve shared a look of surprise. Tess shuffled uncomfortably over the judgment.

"I-I only ask because this is seriously something that people like you should be handling. I-I'm not a hero, nor superhuman, I'm not a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. and in fact hours ago I was at a nice conference discussing the future of science. I had no involvement in anything and to be honest I'd prefer to not be."

It sounded cowardly even to her own ears, but it was true. She was not like Natasha who seemed to be amazing at everything, and she was not like Steve who was just a gallant hero. She was not like Tony who had the machines and heart to be a good hero, nor a Norse god like Thor. She was your run-of-the-mill young adult who happened to work around extraordinary people.

"I gave you the serum didn't I?" Natasha was the first to ask. "Is that not enough of a sign that you aren't leaving soon?"

"Serum" Steve asked, wondering if it was like anything that was in him.

"It's bad when she has it, it makes her jittery" Tony commented. "It's not what you think Cap, just…something to tie her over.:"

"No more serum please" Tess murmured. "I'm not of use here."

"Not yet" Fury walked towards them and grinned. "Welcome everyone. Now we have much to discuss. Miss Holmes, I would suggest you brush up on your astrophysics."

…

It became clear after Fury's commentary that she would not be leaving anytime soon, So she did what was best; she changed out of the ridiculous suit, changed to a pair of yoga pants and her AC/DC t-shirt and laid down to do some homework. She opened the various copies of various literature that Tony had given her. Both had agreed to read the documents that Selvig had left behind prior to him being taken over by Loki. The work was impressive; she had briefly heard of him but she was never interested in astrophysics. Still, she wrote notes on the books and took notes on the copies of Dr. Selvig's research.

"Impressive indeed" she muttered as she bit the top of her pen as she read the unfinished manuscript.

The door to her room opened and Tony walked in signaling her to follow him. She did as asked. She didn't even bother to change as they began to move to the large conference room. It was only when she realized that it was full of people that she began to question a lot of things.

For one thing, Tony did that thing where he walked into the room already taking all the attention for himself. As he answered the man who she knew as Dr. Banner, he began to stroll through signaling Coulson over something.

"It's a stabilizing agent, means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D."

As he muttered something probably sarcastic to Thor, Tess took the opportunity to lay all the documents she was determine to carry into the room if they were presenting what they found. While she was not heroic like the people around her, she knew that Tony and her had a grasp of the science.

"What good does that do?" Thor asked ignoring the jibe.

"Take it away Bunny" Tony signaled her as she took in the workspace.

"It means that the portal can be opened as long as needed by Loki…or anyone in charge really" she ignored the joke about Bunny. "Based on what's been taken he needs raw materials-"

"Which Agent Barton can easily get his hands on. Only major component he still needs is the power source." He trailed off.

"Basically high energy density something to kirk start the cube" Tess finished eyes bright at the way Tony took over the room. While arrogant, in her mind it was fascinating how bright he was, and how he could casually speak of complicated items.

"When did both of you become experts in thermonuclear astrophysics" Maria Hill asked.

"Myself? Last night. Bunny over there? About three hours, she got the abridged version" He seemed proud. "We read the packet, Selvig' notes, the Extraction Theory Papers. Bunny as we the only ones that did the reading for class?"

Tess couldn't help but grin.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve finally spoke up.

"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin, just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Dr. Banner spoke up.

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect."

"If he did," Tess interrupted opening up the notes she took. "he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the Planet."

"Exactly, and possibly use the reactors to create a larger portal." Dr. Banner added.

"Finally someone who speaks English" Tony grinned at Dr. Banner.

Steve looked confused as Dr. Banner and Tony greeted one another, both impressed with their works. Steve turned to face Tess.

"Is that what just happened? English?" Tess grinned at him and showed him the notes.

"It's great to meet you Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." As soon as he finished his sentence, a paper ball was thrown at his head. Turning over, he saw Tess giving him a hard look as Steve looked amused at how she threw something.

The awkwardness was palpable, and it was a rare time when Fury could defuse the tension. As he walked in he made the roles clear. "Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping that you might join him."

"Well, let's start with the stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." Steve moved to the next topic.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys." Fury's tone was clearly frustrated of that outcome.

"Monkeys?" Thor sounded confused, "I do not understand."

"I do!" Steve raised his hand. "I understood that reference"

He looked so proud of himself and Tess giggled, flushing slightly at how proud he looked. She placed a hand on his arm and pulled it down, her eyes bright with mirth. Steve merely smiled in return but did not pull her hand away. Tony scoffed disgusted by everything he just saw.

"Shall we play, Doctor?" Tony asked Dr. Banner.

"Let's play some" and both of them left.

…

Tony had promised Tess that he would call upon her should he need her help. She was initially a but put out at the fact that she did all that work trying to grasp astrophysics only to be pushed aside as Dr. Banner came into the picture. That is, until Steve mentioned that maybe they could talk for a bit. That made everything significantly better.

As they grabbed their dinner, Steve was adamant that they had some sort of privacy. It was clear there was no one that he truly trusted on the ship and she did not blame him at all. Both ate their sandwiches quietly and she wanted desperately to break the tension that seemed to be over them.

"Is everything okay?" she asked softly. "I mean…it seems like something is wrong with you."

"I don't like the way Stark treats you" he put his meal down and looked at her seriously.

"What?" she seemed surprised at his tone. Her meal was too forgotten.

"The way he ordered you around on the ship, the way he dragged you to another room when we returned to Loki and the way he has you on beck and call. You are too good to be under his thumb."

"Steve" she reached over to grab his hand. "Perhaps this is a conversation we should have in actual privacy." She signaled people looking at them curiously.

He nodded and got up, and walked with her towards an empty room, that happened to be his. He signaled her to sit and she did as asked, sitting on his bed as he sat beside her.

"Look, Tony is my mentor and my boss. He always tries to do the best for me. But today…"she sighed. "Tony was upset because I never told him that you and I were…well friends and living together and you were my lunch date. And…I never keep things from him" she shuffled uncomfortably.

"Are you embarrassed we live together? I know if it is because we are both unmarried but—"

"No!" she flushed and interrupted him. "I could never be embarrassed of you or our rela-friendship, I meant friendship" she could kick herself. "I only didn't tell him because he disliked you from the moment you scared me when you awoke. He's better now…we both are. But please don't think he's bad, he's amazingly smart and an asset to this team."

As he clasped her hands he saw nothing but sincerity in her tone. She truly cared to keep the peace and he promised himself that he would try his hardest to do the same.

"I'm sorry, I didn't contact you while I was gone" he suddenly admitted. "I know I should have left a note, but I had no time. I thought…I thought we could have had one night before I was forced to leave."

"One night?" Steve noticed how her eyes brightened in a teasing manner as her tone strengthened it. "Why Steve, aren't you the devil."

"No" he flushed horrified at his choice of words. "Not just one night, well no a night, I-I mean a proper goodbye."

"Like the ones soldiers get before they go to war? Why, I've heard about those, so indecent" she leaned forward teasingly.

This was a normal standard. This moment she had control, it only took a few fluttering lashes, a fake indignant tone and a teasing smile and he was off. He was so tightly wound that it made Tess just want to devour him. She flushed suddenly at her own thoughts.

"I would never-I mean not of you. I mean! Not because of you, because well. It'd be improper" he finished lamely.

It was then she laughed softly and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. The way she moved so close to him, it allowed him to really take her in. He liked seeing her like this, her hair away from her face, tight pants that once made him uncomfortable now put him at peace, and her shit that hid her bosom better than the body suit she wore earlier. But she was so close, that he himself found that he couldn't help but grab a strand of her hair and lightly tug it. She let out a throaty laugh and he smiled. She liked teasing him, he knew but he always fell for it without even fighting it. He liked being around her, and he could only imagine how it would have been had she been with him during his training. Spending the days alone talking and just being together. This was nice.

"Do you like your suit?" she whispered as her hands moved to his chest to trace the lines of his suit.

"I-I do" he replied softly, knowing something had changed in the atmosphere.

"Good" she smirked. "I made this thinking of you" her hands moved up the lines of his suit and onto his shoulders. "I thought it would look nice on you, and I was right."

"You like it on me?" he found himself asked as his hands moved from her hair to her cheek.

"I love it" her eyes felt heavy as they sat so closely. He felt tightness on his stomach that he had not felt in decades. Both knew that something had shifted, but both were unsure if they wanted to get out of it. Her lips parted and he had only kissed two women before, but he knew the signal. It would not be smart to lead her on, he did not feel that way; he only had cared for one woman long ago. But the way her eyes lured him, the way her full lips parted he knew it would be wrong, but he moved forward. Both took a deep breath moving forward, only to be centimeters apart before—

" _You're motoring, what's your price for flight, in finding Mr. Right, you'll be alright tonight!"_

"Damn it" she pulled back and pulled her cellphone out. She did not remember ever having a ringtone for Tony that was Night Ranger. She flushed and moved away from Steve. That was bad what they almost did. Especially as Steve looked ashamed in himself, she couldn't even stare at him right now, instead she rushed out with Tony on the line asking her to grab a few documents that he needed.

Tess was embarrassed at the way that she basically threw herself at him, the way that she got him to respond only to see the shame in his eyes. She shook her head; he did not want her that way, not sincerely and she needed to accept that. She would be okay. She had to be.

…

When the door closed behind her, Steve groaned in embarrassment. He did not want to kiss her, at least that is what he told himself. Except the pit of disappointment that he was so close confused him. That would be improper for Peggy's memory and he could not do it. Especially not for a sweet girl such as Tess; she deserved someone her age someone who could understand this world and give her the normalcy she deserved. Because she was a normal girl and he had never been normal. He would find her and apologize. He had to, or just ignore it. Still the way she was so close, the way she simply touched him…he needed a shower.


	13. Not in That Way

**_Author's Note:_** _Hello! I am not sure how many chapters I want to make out of the movie, but it's definitely going to be a few chapters. Also, I took inspiration from Iron Man to add some rock in scenes I think would be fitting. Please review and let me know what you think!_

 ** _The American Dream_**

 ** _Chapter 13: Not in That Way_**

 _"And I hate to say I want you_

 _When you make it so clear_

 _You don't want me_

 _I'd never ask you 'cause deep down I'm certain I know what you'd say_

 _You'd say, "I'm sorry, believe me, I love you but not in that way."_

Tess wasn't listening, as Tony rambled on about what he needed from her. She was just walking down the hallway away from Steve and away from her horrifying embarrassing experience. Briefly she heard him say something and she murmured something in agreement. She felt like her body was not working in automatic mode. She felt like she was having an out of body experience, like her mind was floating and her body was taken over. Tony took the documents she somehow carried towards him and he walked away in her mind he was garbling some instructions to her that she did not understand. She wanted to tell him to stay, to help her because her heart was beating so loudly against her ears. But no avail.

It took her a while to realize what was happening. With the heavy breathing and feeling so helpless, she was having a panic attack. She needed to get out of the busy hallway and quick. Thankfully her body moved on it's own, away from the busy chatter to door after door that lead farther and farther away from everything. It was the last door that slammed behind her that made her really gasp for air. The whole room was spinning, and her body would not stop trembling. Her legs gave out and she fell down thankful for the cold metal floor cooling her down.

Blurrily she saw a pair of eyes stare intently at her. She wanted to focus but it wasn't a successful one.

"Shouldn't you be breathing? " he said.

Her only reply was to gasp for breath. She wanted to curse at him, the genuine fear and shaking from her panic attack left her helpless. ' _Curl'_ her mind yelled at her body to do. And slowly it did as she wrapped her arms around her knees in hopes of functioning once more. She didn't dare look at him, she didn't dare eve talk to him. She was only grateful that he could not get hear her.

"You are a fascinating broken thing aren't you?" he whispered bending down to make eye contact while she lay on the ground.

Tess merely closed her eyes counting backwards from one hundred. She had not had a panic attack in a long time, but the embarrassment she had gone through, the dread and irrational fear took over her normalcy. She wanted to cry, desperately so, so she could feel better, but she knew better than to do it in front of Loki. Slowly her breathing evened and she felt the tears beginning to brim.

"Please don't hold back on my account. Tears never bothered me."

Taunting, that was all he was good for.

"S-s-shut up" she whispered finally being able to talk again.

"Are you all equally as eloquent or are you trying hard for little old me"

"Are you that sadistic that you enjoy people's pain?"

Loki smiled widely at her question and he actually laughed at her naivety.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we formerly met. I am Loki, God of Mischief and soon to be ruler of your puny world. I don't do caring. "

She glared at him and while shaking a bit she managed to sit up. She needed to get out of here and fast, she knew that the longer she stayed the longer he'd toy with her. He didn't talk to her out of interest, but rather boredom or a chance to get information out of her. So she stopped talking, instead turned away from him in hopes of being able to have him bored of her while she could gain enough energy to run.

The silence was defending and she'd hope he'd get the hint. And he did, that is, it amused him but in no means did it deter him. She heard a tapping on the glass, like knocking on a fish tank and she refused to look back.

"Oh are we trying to pretend that you aren't here with me?" he taunted, "You sure are feisty, or at least pretend t be. After all you were awfully weepy earlier. Are you always weepy?"

Silence.

"Closing your eyes tighter will not make me go away. Or are you keeping more tears at bay? Curious little thing aren't you. Did you cry because you're weak? I would cry too I suppose."

Finally her patience snapped and she turned to face him. Her glare did nothing to deter him, instead he smiled widely, his green eyes shining with mirth. She forced herself to get up, her legs wobbling like a newborn deer. Foolishly she pushed herself from the floor using the glass that kept the two apart. Eyes met and she flinched as she swore his eyes became darker.

"Heading off and without a goodbye? Little humans are so rude."

"Goodbye" she spat out and walked out, refusing to show just how shaky she was.

"Come back soon!" he called out. When the door closed behind the little human he let out a few chuckles before a full laugh escaped him.

…

She was shaking profusely as she allowed herself to take in what just happened. She walked into the belly of the beast and she knew that had he not been behind that glass she would have been dead. Dread filled her to the core and she shook her head. It was clear what had happened back with Steve.

The ringtone was a clear sign that it was a bad idea. She was being silly, naïve and a hopeless romantic. He was perfect and he was beautiful inside and out; too perfect that it only made sense she had grown to…love him? She wrinkled her nose at her own train of thought. She wanted to be held, for sure. And she didn't mind it if he dared to kiss her, her lip twitched and her cheeks flushed. Steve was too perfect and that made her want him that made sense.

 _'Then why don't you see Tony that way?'_ her subconscious provided and she tripped over her feet.

"Woah, are you okay?" Looking up she saw Tony holding her curiously a hint of amusement in his gaze. She matched his smile and pulled away from him a bit embarrassed at both her actions and her train of thought.

"Yeah…my head got a bit wonky. Hey can I work on the newest update on the suit while you're plotting with your super friends?" she asked.

He placed an arm around her shoulders as they walked side by side and laughed before explaining what he wanted. And the more he talked the more she understood why it was not the same thing as Steve. Tony for one thing made all her dreams come true and asked so little in return, he treasured her and treated her like the little sister he always wanted. In turn she was devoted to him wholeheartedly. It was not hard to love either of them, that much she knew. And while he was undeniably attractive, Tony and her were too alike. They both shared the same sense of humor, the same interests and their devotion was easily given. It would be too easy and life didn't like easy. Though at the thought of loving Tony in romantic sense made her a bit sick. _'Ew'_ was all she could reply as a response to her subconscious.

"Did you just say ew?"

"Um…well…" she felt herself flush.

As she came up with a lame excuse and Tony poked fun at her, she wasn't about to ruin this. She needed this so she could stay grounded. Tess didn't need anything else. She had a fantastic friend beside her who gave her a perfect excuse to run away from her problems…Perhaps they were too alike in that sense.

….

Steve had not seen Tess whatsoever and it was weird. She was not there during breakfast; and that was a lonely breakfast without her. She was not in the meeting; meaning that she was not there to smile or explain what was going on. He had not slept well, but during that sleepless night, he knew he needed to apologize for somehow leading her on. He needed to be clear that he did not feel that way about her and the sooner they could get out of that awkward patch they would be okay.

Still, he was growing restless at her not being around. He was relieved when Natasha asked where she was. The only response they got was that she was doing something important. It was a short response and very vague. He tried not to be put out, as she didn't bother to be there at lunch either. It didn't help when he got into an argument with Stark either over him toying with Dr. Banner's situation. It was clear neither of them liked one another, but the way that he stared at Steve made him think that there was something more bothering him than he cared to admit.

Tony Stark was nothing like his old friend Howard and it was ugly to see how he had turned out. He was clearly self-centered and did not think about the consequences of his actions. He was not a team player and questioned everything. Shaking his head, Steve took a left turn on the hallways simple curious about what was going on in the ship. What caught his attention was music; it was boisterous and attention grabbing.

Pushing the door of the lab, the loud guitar rift began to ring through the room as the lyricist began to sing:

 _"She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean._

 _She was the best damn woman I had ever seen._

 _She had the sightless eyes, telling me no lies,_

 _Knocking me out with those American thighs._

 _Taking more of her share, had me fighting for air,"_

The song didn't seem important as he noticed someone working on a robot. She danced around in jeans and a large t-shirt. Her hair was in a high ponytail as she rocked out to the music. It was clear that she had no idea there was an audience, especially as she moved the machine around the robot. But as she let go and spun around he realized it was Tess. She was mouthing the lyrics right on the beat.

 _"She told me to come, but I was already there._

 _Cause the walls start shaking, the Earth was quaking._

 _My mind was aching and were making it and you_

 _Shook me all night long"_

Watching her dance was nothing new; he usually would laugh around as she danced in her apartment. She said it helped her think and put things together. He would merely nod and stifle his laughter as she jumped around letting her hair swing around in glee. But this was a different song and it was clear that she was in her element.

What he had failed to notice was someone there with her; a SHIELD member. Steve didn't like the way he stared at her dancing around; but it seemed he had a purpose, handing her the tools she needed for whatever she was building. Whenever he gave her a tool she smiled at him in a way that clearly flustered the poor soul. She was clueless what she did, that much was clear. When Tess began to slide under the machine, Steve made his move. He didn't appreciate being ignored, especially not by his only friend. So as she dove down, he tapped the soldier's shoulder and signaled him to leave. The poor boy had no choice but to do so leaving the two of them alone.

"I love this song!" a muffled voice came from under the invention. "Hand me the Tinman snip please"

As she slid her hand out, he was uncomfortable at how comfortable she was dressed like that, especially when she assumed it was a normal stranger. Handing the tool, he got a thank you before she slid back under.

"Thanks for offering to help by the way Steven" Steve swore he felt his eye twitch at how similar the names were. "I wasn't going to wait around for Tony to help out. This needs to get done ASAP."

"Right" he trailed off not knowing what to do.

"I promise as soon as a finish we can go get lunch like promised"

So she was either avoiding him or just too busy to even get out to get food. Steve reasons that if she was too busy she wouldn't have had time to meet the poor boy he kicked out of the room. He knew he needed to be assertive with her because there was no way they weren't going to talk.

…

It had all started innocently enough; Tony had made sure that she was busy, by trying to get the newer additions to the suit to be added as a back up. He was adamant that it needed to be done and she was perfect for it. She knew that he was pushing the job on her to keep her busy and it worked. She forgot about breakfast and the awkwardness of Steve, and when she did, she would wince at the awkwardness and dive into work even deeper.

Her request to fix the robot came with a price; all the tools were with this SHIELD member named Steven, much to her annoyance. When she had gone around to ask and got a response as to who he was, it was clear that this was all a big scheme. The guy was too charming, his smile too wide, his hands to eager to help carrying things. Tony had schemed and she was upset, especially when she saw him as she was heading to the lab. He gave her a thumbs up as the SHIELD member was carrying the items she needed. She only glared, but was too polite to do anything.

She learned a lot in half a day; Steven had an older brother, also a SHIELD member and his family had worked for the agency since the beginning. He liked to work on computers and he had a fondness for pizza. After a while his weird facts were becoming less and less interesting and she hid or played music to ignore him. He was too into this, whatever Tony told him it was clear he was going to be disappointed.

The worst part was that no matter how distracted she made herself, her thoughts would come back to the incident. At first she was foolishly angry; she knew that she had just assumed that everything was working out. She thought Steve liked her; well at least he acted like he liked her and she…well she really liked him. It was embarrassing how bad her crush was, and how spectacularly insecure it made her. He was attentive and cared to listen, and she for once wondered if this was how easy it was supposed to be. Her thoughts began to trail off.

That is until the music stopped playing.

"Hey are you hungry?"

Tess considered her options; she was hungry, but did she really want to with him? She had previously said she would but now…it seemed like torture. Still, her stomach gave her away as it grumbled. Wincing, she had no choice but to slide from under the machine, and as she did so she got a surprise. As she looked up she wanted the floor to swallow her whole, especially as Steve was frowning at her with his arms crossed.

"H-hey Steve" she said softly unsure why her tone wavered.

"You're avoiding me and I do not appreciate it" he said as firmly as he possibly could with her.

She sat up slowly, and refused to make eye contact. She knew it was unfair for him to be just pushed away after he rejected her. There was nothing for them to constitute her being mad. Taking a deep breath, she knew that she needed to just admit she was wrong and just move on.

Still, as Steve stuck his hand out to help her up, Tess felt that it was just too soon to even look at him. But as he ducked his head to make proper eye contact after pulling her up, she knew she was being unfair. Especially when she saw his eyes showed nothing but confusion and hurt.

"I'm sorry" both of them said at the same time.

"Sorry" both apologized.

Now both went quiet. Tess winced at how awkward this was, but Steve knew what he had to do.

"I should start" he began, "I'm sorry that I lead you on. I never thought that you know us spending time together and growing close somehow gave you the impression that I was –"

"Please stop" Tess interrupted him feeling her stomach turning at his words. It stung more than she cared to admit, even if he was being honest with her. "It's all me, I made this weird" she tentatively reached for his hands and immediately his hands covered hers "I shouldn't have assumed that you were being nice to me because you…liked me. I now know that was just who you are and you did nothing wrong."

"You're avoiding me" he said softly.

"I was…I was embarrassed. I still am, but" she took a deep breath. "I'm okay now"

"I-I should still apologize" and she relented. "I-I want to make sure you understand that it's not you. I of course care for you, as a friend.."

 _'Did he know that it was a thing? He was lying.'_ Her conscious told her as her embarrassment grew. Especially so as he was very clear in his wishes.

"I was in love once, long ago in this timeline I guess" he ran his finger through his hair in pain. "Nothing came from is because of—I lost the chance. And I know that I need to let it pass, but there can't be someone else. Not you—not anyone that can make me feel the way I felt."

Somehow that hurt more than anything he could have said. He could have called her unattractive, that they had no chemistry, or that hell, it was all in her head. But the fact he was adamant that he could never love again, no one, made her both pity him and make herself feel so foolish for thinking it was a simple as him not feeling anything.

"Okay" was all she managed to say. "All I ask is for space"

"Space? But we'll be okay?"

"We will be…soon."

"Can I hug you?"

A silent nod was all she managed to do before she was held. Being wrapped in his arms just made the wound deeper. He was just so caring and warm and she knew that she was screwed either way. Best case, if she was somewhat detached and kept him believing they were okay, she could only hope her feelings would die. But as she took a deep breath and took in his cologne she knew she was a hopeless cause.

"Isn't this cute"

That's when Tess opened her eyes and looked somewhat ashamed as Tony stood by the entrance with his arms crossed. She knew that he already had a perception of Steve and her pining didn't help. Pulling away she smiled guiltily at Tony and walked forward to try and distract him.

"So, I almost finished the prototype you wanted" she tugged is hand and pulled him towards the machine and forced herself as the perfect mediator. As she began to describe the changes she had done, she signaled Steve to leave so she could have some privacy with Tony. It was clear to Steve that at the moment, Tony trumped absolutely everyone in her life, and he wasn't sure he liked that. Nonetheless he found himself following her lead and closing it behind him.

…

When it was just the two of them, Tess knew that Tony was going to talk to her and chastise her for her being so naive. But she did not expect what was coming from his mouth. She was the middle of playing with some of the tools when he finally spoke.

"You said you didn't like him that way. "

And then all the tools were on the ground. She looked at him wide-eye at what he said. Was she that obvious? She felt her whole face turn an ugly red color as he looked at her completely serious.

"I-I"

"I thought you weren't going to lie to me again." He interrupted her. "I heard _everything_ and to me it seems" he moved closer to take her in. "that the old geezer apologized for leading you on. Now…I know he didn't lead you on, because if he did, he'd be dead right now."

"Tony" her voice had grown softer and so much more ashamed especially as he moved away to pick up the tools. "I know I'm stupid okay?"

She knew that he was pitying her, and biting back the urge to show her how right he had been all along. And he was right; what chance did she have with someone so extraordinary?

"I'm sorry you learned about Peggy Carter, and as much as I would like to take this pain away from you, it's about time to realize I don't always talk shit. I knew he was a bad influence on you." He shook his head.

"Peggy Carter?" she repeated it softly, then over and over again in her head. That was the special woman that had captures Steve's heard all those decades ago? A simple name somehow carried a lot of power. She wrapped her arms around her waist and took a deep breath. This was not the time to be sentimental, it was best to avoid being jealous of a woman who had lived a long time ago and did nothing to harm her in any way.

"Hey..." when she got out of her head, Tony had wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "You'll be fine."

"I have no choice, do I?" she asked.

"None whatsoever. You pretend it never happened. You just move on, and find your previous prince Charming and when you get married I get to be your best man and everything."

The grin that appeared on her face made Tony realize that he had successfully fixed it, at least for now. Heartbreaks were inevitable, but he would be damned if someone like Steve Rogers broke his friend's heart. She was a good kid, a lovable one that was too good to even be friends with him. But he was working on himself, and he swore to the universe that nothing would happen to ruin Tess' outlook on life.

Tess was oblivious to his promises and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him down for a kiss on the cheek.

"You're an amazing pep talker, did you know that?" she murmured against him.

He chuckled and kissed her forehead.

"Well I was paid a _hefty_ amount for the last TED talk."

"Ugh you're such a show off" she rolled her eyes but could not keep her smile at bay. "Feed me." She ordered" You owe me big for this and for that weirdo who held the tools."

As they walked out of the lab, Tony had the decency to look abashed and Tess looked annoyed.

"Can I throw money at you so your annoyance goes away?"

"You'll be a wonderful father one day" her grin only earned her a slap on the butt and him properly ignoring her.

"Oh come on. Tony!"

….

Lunch was absolutely fantastic and she felt a bit lighter as Tony spent time with her. She knew he was absolutely busy with everything, but the fact that he took time out of his day to align her world made her love him all the more. Loving Tony was easy, he asked for a lot, but he gave a lot in return. As she swatted is hand from her pizza slice and he looked wounded she felt herself feel normal. It really would have been easy to fall in love with Tony…that is, if she didn't already love him like family.

"What's going on in that big brain of yours?" he asked curiously.

She merely gave him one of those "special" smiles that he loved so much and uttered the words that he had never expected:

"I love you" she said softly, eyes bright. "You're my best friend and I'm lucky to have Iron Man care about me."

At first Tony felt a rush of panic hit him as she said those dreaded words, that is until he realized how she said it and he felt him feel warm at her adoration.

"You and I kid are kindred spirits. I'm a firm believer that you were meant to do great things and I'm here to just enjoy the adventure"

"So even with friendship you can't tell me you love me?" she teased.

"That's as close as I'm ever going to tell a woman that I love them."

She laughed softly and bit into her pizza. Both were at peace and even in the midst of turmoil they found time to be human.

…

Walking side by side they entered the conference room. It was when the door closed behind them that she realized that something was wrong. For one thing everyone was looking at her strangely. Nick Fury looked at her curiously, Natasha looked amused and Thor and Steve looked furious.

"Who pissed your little party?" Tony said aloud as he pulled the chair for Tess to sit.

"There's something that you need to see" Natasha said as the screen began to play the video.

Tess looked wide-eyed as she saw herself entering Loki's cell only to fall over as if she fainted. She did not know her panic attack was caught on camera, and even more so as Loki took more interest and trying to talk to her. There was no audio much to her relief.

"Care to explain what happened?" Fury asked.

"What the hell?" Tony murmured.

"I-I had a panic attack hit me at the most inopportune time. I didn't even see where I was heading, all I knew was that I needed to get out of a place so full of people. I needed air and so I just rushed out of there." Her excuse sounded weak even to her own ears.

"Panic attack?" Tony sat beside her and rubbed her hands hoping to soothe her.

"I don't have them too often. Just today…I don't know what triggered it" it was when she lifted her gaze that she noticed Steve looking at her intently.

"What did he tell you?" Thor asked curiously.

"Nothing!" she exclaimed. "He was just curious as to why I was having my attack. He called me weak and how weird I was."

"Interesting" Thor trailed off.

"I told you it'd be a good idea" Natasha began. "It's clear that he would speak with her. Plus—"

"Wait…you all want me to go in there and speak with him?" Tess was shocked and Tony left her side.

"Well yes" Natasha began. "You see-"

"No, absolutely not! Are you all crazy? I can go in there! She shouldn't be a part of this. Stark, surely you agree with me. We need to keep her out of danger!" Steve had never been one to raise his voice in disagreements in any plans so far, but this was a lot.

The whole room was staring at him, Tony leaning against the wall, his arms crossed as he thought this over; Dr. Banner looking at the notes faking great interest, Natasha staring at her nails, and Thor nodding along. Tess on the other hand stared down at her lap a nervous habit he knew too well.

"I agree" Thor began, "I should go speak with him, I am his brother and we can surely solve what is happening. I do not wish for simple humans, no offense-"

"None taken" Tess spoke softly.

"—to be involved. He should be trialed within our realm. I will solve what once I speak with him to get his true plan" Thor seemed sure of himself.

"Has that worked before?" Tony commented, "the whole big brother thing? Because just hearing it makes me annoyed. Doesn't it annoy anyone else?" He made sure to make eye contact with Tess who was fighting off a grin. He walked around and placed a hand on her shoulder. "While I'm not too happy with this either, Natasha made good points: he finds Tess unassuming, she is not someone he battled, or has any power within this ship" he squeezed her shoulder as a sort of apology, but she did not take it personally. "But so many people underestimate her all the time, call it misogyny or stupidity, she is more than meets the eye. She understood thermonuclear astrophysics with a few cliff notes and simple direction, she's an apple off the old tree." He kissed her cheek much to her embarrassment.

He was asking like the proud father to her brilliance and she was flattered and incredibly embarrassed at the looks they were getting. She wasn't like them; she wasn't a Norse God, a spy, a soldier, nor a doctor specialized in gamma rays. She knew she was the closest to Tony, except she wasn't born into brilliance as he, and wasn't a young prodigy at MIT. But she knew she was good, that is if it was in a lab, not so much with people.

"Now children" Fury walked in calmly at their meeting. "You think that you can make Loki tell us what the Tesseract is?" he asked Thor specifically.

Thor looked unsure. "I do not know, Loki's mind is far adield, it's not just power he craves, its vengeance upon me. There's no pain that would pry his need from him"

Fury scoffed. "A lot of guys think that, that is until the pain stops"

"Do you think this interrogation would even work? Especially, with someone that doesn't know him like I do? Loki is a prisoner"

"If Loki is a prisoner then what do I feel that he's the only person on this boat that wants to be here?"

"Enough" Tess stood up. "I-I will do as asked. Just tell me the plan"

"Good" Fury smiled. "Now let's make you as vulnerable as possible. That will make you easy prey to him."

"Hm…won't take much" Natasha smirked before tugging her from the meeting.

"Hey!"

…

Natasha was absolutely right, it took very little to make her feel even more vulnerable than she already was. She could feel herself shaking over the idea of having to talk to Loki by herself…well not so much, the ear piece she had would help her get proper words out from Natasha. They went over this in great detail: she would go into the prison at night, as if she was growing curious of Loki and try to get the needed information out of him.

Tess played the part perfectly. She let her hair down and changed into a nightgown to look absolutely easy to prey on. As she opened the door from her room, she noticed that they were all there looking at her curiously. She was embarrassed for them looking at her in surprise that she hadn't backed out just yet. The metal floor was unforgiving on her bare feet, but she refused to show it.

"Alright Holmes, just get in there and remember what we talked about." Natasha said seriously.

Tess nodded before avoiding the gaze of Steve who looked spectacularly upset that he did not get his way. Taking a deep breath she began to walk towards the center of the ship that held Loki. Shakily she pushed the button that allowed her in.

…

Loki found himself pacing back and forth formulating his plan. So far everything was going perfectly. He was where he needed to be and he even got a little bit of entertainment from the little girl earlier today. The way her body convulsed and lost her footing was most curious. And as she stared at him, with anger, there was no way that she hid her fear from him. And he absolutely fed on fear. He was about to start his pace again, that is until he heard something that made him stop.

"You know…if you were trying to sneak on me, you absolutely failed" he drawled.

"I didn't think I was sneaking up on you" Tess murmured softly as she came into the light.

She looked absolutely nervous and Loki took her in for all her weakness. She looked like she was a human sacrifice, so silly in her nightgown and her big eyes showing nervousness.

"What brings the little dove to my lair"

"You mean prison" she blurted out, only to look a little pale a the row gall.

"Different world views I suppose. Now what brings you here so late. Shouldn't daddy have put you to bed?"

She glared and he smiled wider as he knew that he had annoyed her.

"I don't have a daddy" she spat out, no longer needed to pretend to be aggressive. "and it seems neither do you"

"Tsk tsk, well don't you have a mouth on you" he leaned closer to the glass to try and intimidate her. "I don't absolutely hate it."

"You don't scare me" she mumbled.

"Now Miss…now what is your name?" he pressed his hand down to her level so she could do the same.

"Tess Holmes" she said softly as she pressed her hand tentatively on the glass, like a sort of greeting. "And I only came because I wanted to know…what is your plan? Why do you need to make us your servants? Is being a God in your world not enough?"

His eyes flashed into something darker and he looked down at her to get a better look.

"Is this really the best they have? A little girl on a silver platter and they expect me to just spill all the world's secrets? Sorry dear but that won't be happening."

"T-they didn't ask me to come here" she said softly looking ashamed. "I-I came because I had to know why you're doing this. I was there when you tried to take over in Germany. You…you almost killed an old man."

"Ah yes, you were quite lovely in that black dress. Oh do lift your chin, I'd like to see the indentations my hands left on your face."

"You're a monster" she whispered but did as told. She watched Loki taking in the soft pink marks that were slowly disappearing.

"Now, now. Even a monster can appreciate beauty" he murmured as he moved his hand to the glass near where her neck was aligned to. She swore she could see his hands twitch in hopes of gripping her neck.

"You call be me beautiful to make me uncomfortable"

He flashed a grin and shrugged. "It seems to work doesn't it little dove. Now to answer your question… do you ever just look around your world and see how awful it is? The destruction, your killing…well I'd stop that the moment I become your leader."

"We don't need someone like you," she said and she meant it. "We need love and peace and not destruction and chaos like you bring. We would never follow your rule."

"I don't ever think I asked for permission my dove. And your need of love is most childish. I forget how young you all are. You are still seeing the world through your rose colored glasses. But let me tell you something…even the people that surround you are horrible. You want to see monsters, these people are the monsters."

"No they're good people" she argued back and he made him laugh.

"Beautiful yet so stupid" he shook his head. "Do you know that I took over one of their agents? Bartlett gave me a look into the horrors that he had committed, alongside Agent Romanoff. They killed children, pillaged towns and all in the name of this organization.

"You lie" she whispered shaking her head.

"Oh love…" he caressed the glass as he saw the sheen of tears beginning to rise. It was beautiful how he could break her so easily. "They lie and kill for the service of liars and killers. They pretend to have a code, to make up for the horrors that they commit."

"Stop" she begged.

He slammed his hands against the glass making her take a few steps back shaking in fear. She had somehow made him furious and she didn't know just how strong the glass was.

"No! There is nothing to stop. I will make sure that when I get out of here I'll make them all kill themselves. And since I like you, you know what I'll do? I'll keep you alive to see everything. I want to hear you scream, as you see them split their skulls. You do look lovely with tears" he pressed himself against the glass as she wiped her tears desperately trying to keep herself together.

"You truly are a monster!" she whispered again, as she shook profusely.

"No darling…you brought in the monster" he cackled.

Tess shook violently as the blood lust radiated from him. He showed her the ugliness of the world, of the people around her and she didn't know if she got anything out of him that was worth anything.

"So…Banner is your play" a voice said from the darkness.

"What?" Loki look surprised as Natasha came from the shadows to hold Tess up. He saw her take something from Tess and placed it in her ear to speak with someone.

"Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, I'm on my way. Send Thor as well." When she turned to look at him. Natasha grinned viciously. "Thank you for your cooperation. Come on Holmes"

As Natasha pulled Tess along, Tess managed to look back to see Loki frozen in surprise. That is, until the fury began, she thankfully did not see that as the doors closed behind them.

It was the first time that Tess wondered just was side was the true good guys. But as Natasha pushed her into Tony's arms, she found herself clinging against him, as he kept murmuring things to make the horrid thoughts go away.

"You did amazing" he whispered and she found herself disagreeing. "Now I found something out that I think changes our position on things."

"For now…can you just hold me?"

He did not respond verbally but held her tighter. From across his shoulder, Tess saw Steve looking at her intently. This would usually make her blush and look away, but as Loki's words echoed in her mind she wondered, if the people around her were really as honest as they said. It was a small moment like this when she appreciated the space she asked for was respected.


End file.
